In addition to soft skills, business analysts need industry-specific knowledge and technical skills that allow them to do their jobs well and help businesses make smart decisions. Some examples of technical business analytics skills are as follows.
Pretty much every organization runs on data. Crucial business information is typically collected through the organization’s database system. A business analyst needs the skills to understand where data comes from and how to navigate it.
Additionally, many of the decisions a business analyst may be required to consult on require an understanding of how information is stored in the organization. Business data analysts need to know enough about the technology used in their industry to make recommendations for products and services that could make their organization more efficient and profitable.
Having industry-specific technical knowledge isn’t enough by itself; business analysts also need the skills necessary to apply that knowledge. In particular, computer skills are a major requirement of the job.
Business analysts can benefit from being tech-savvy. They need to know how computer systems work, how to use information technology applications and how to use a few different programming languages.1
In particular, it can be helpful to know how to use the Python programming language. This helps business analysts perform advanced analyses on sets of data, as well as automate certain tasks.2 Other programming languages, including Java, Visual Basic, C++ and PHP can also be helpful in this career.3
In addition, aspiring business analysts should work toward proficiency in SQL, as this allows them to extract, manipulate and analyze data that is stored in databases.2
Compiling, organizing and analyzing data is a major part of the job, but not the only part. Business analytics professionals also need to be able to communicate their findings in a way that stakeholders can act upon. One way they do this is via data visualization tools, such as Tableau and Power BI. These data visualization tools can help decision-makers understand the insights from the data and make decisions accordingly.2
Business analysts sometimes work with machine learning models. In order to interpret these models and develop meaningful insights, they need to understand statistical concepts. Statistical analysis allows analysts to figure out the trends and patterns in the data, and to identify which areas could benefit from improvement.2
Documentation skills are another important technical skill for business analysts. They need to identify the best way to document their findings and insights.
Some examples of the types of documentation that these professionals may use include the following:3
- User documentation
- Source code documentation
- Process documentation
- System documentation
