The arrival of big data into the picture of industries all over the world has considerably increased the importance of data science. However, many tend to confuse the terms ‘data science’ and ‘business analysis’, often taking them to mean the same thing. In reality, there are distinctive differences between the two, and each has its own pros and cons. If you’re ever planning to make a career in either of these fields, it’s important to learn the difference between the two.

Business Analysis vs Data Science Difference #1: Definition

Put simply, the overarching goal of a business analyst is to help grow a business in a given market under certain conditions. They have a direct influence on critical financial decisions made in the company. They use data to create and change policies, improve productivity and stabilise systems. A data scientist, on the other hand, is responsible for collecting, processing and reporting findings from a massive data dump. Data scientists convert raw data into structured, meaningful silos which are then used to generate reports on trends or make forecasts.

Business Analysis vs Data Science Difference #2: Analysis

A business analyst perceives data, insights and requirements from the perspective of the business and its overall operational systems. A data scientist observes and visualises the relationship between data in a database. While data analysts derive insights from data dumps, business analysts take what is needed to make the business function better and meet certain milestones. Both problem-solving roles are highly data-focused; the difference is that they enter at different stages of the operation and manipulate data to different goals.

Business Analysis vs Data Science #3: Skills

While the skills required for both roles might overlap by virtue of dealing with data, in the end, there are some differences. The following skills apply for data scientists:

● Programming: Where premade software might not be flexible enough, data scientists must be equipped to make personalised changes
● Software: Data scientists must be well-versed in a plethora of tools serving different purposes, from statistics to visualisation
● Data management: From collecting to segregating and organising massive data dumps, data scientists are expected to be adept at managing and manipulating data

When it comes to business analysts, the following apply:

● Analytical skills: By virtue of their job role, business analysts need to be excellent at analysing data and immediately spotting significant information and leveraging it
● Technical understanding: though not as much as data scientists, business analysts are expected to understand databases, basic software and visualisation systems to interpret data
● Soft skills: Business analysts need to network and brainstorm with multiple key players, so they must have the necessary soft skills to work well under pressure

Business Analysis vs Data Science #4: Outlook

Business analysts are strictly organisation-centric, though their policies might have a national or global impact. They deal with strategies, alliances and networks a lot more than data scientists. The latter is more likely to be mathematicians and statisticians in their outlook, sifting through data to find salient patterns and outliers. Whether a finding is of significance to the business or not, is up to the business analyst. That said, the business analyst heavily relies on data scientists to collect and segregate data they can work with.

Conclusion

Despite the differences in tools and skills, it’s safe to say that both business analysis and data science deals centrally with data– the shift lies in where they stand in the operational process. If you’re confused between the two roles, its best to envision the type of work you see yourself doing. Would you rather be making business decisions or collecting and making sense of data? Are you people-centric or technology-driven? The answers to these questions will help you zone in on what career suits you the most.

A business analyst is in demand in all kinds of companies. Businesses rely on these professionals to provide insights that will be used in decision making and running business operations. A business analyst course will help a person in understanding the nuances of the subject and in becoming an effective business analyst.
A business analyst is chosen based on different parameters. Make sure to brush up your skills before applying for s similar role.

Key Strengths of a Business analyst

Business Analysts are known for their professional and soft skills. They need to be ready for the hard work and time the job demands. Some of the major strengths of a business analyst are as follows:

1. Identifying objectives: Business analysts are aware of the objectives of the business. Therefore, they work towards the goals set by the business itself. A business analyst knows how to do a job. Also, they know what kind of results have to be delivered.
2. Good communication skills: A business analyst interacts with different stakeholders of business regularly. Therefore, he must communicate effectively. A good business analyst knows how to talk to people and getting the work done. A business analyst course will also help in understanding the kind of tone required.
3. Strong reasoning ability: Business analysts are known for their acumen. Therefore, an ideal business analyst is someone who has strong reasoning ability and critical thinking skills. Also, these skills have to be brought in the day to day activities as business analysts manage huge data sets and points daily. Also, they have to extract a lot of information from these data sets. Good reasoning ability will help your cause. A business analyst course would help you with this.
4. Time Management: Managing time is one of the most important strengths of a good business analyst. The work schedule of an analyst is quite hectic. He has to manage multiple tasks at the same time. Therefore, an analyst needs to manage time as the job role demands commitment and high work volume. Also, it is important for a business analyst to multi-task. The job demands a full commitment to the schedule.
5. Good technical skills: Business analysts make use of different arithmetic models to come down to a conclusion. These models are developed for a better analysis of multiple data sets. Therefore, business analysts possess great technical and computer handling skills which makes their jobs much easier.
6. Analytical skills: The work of a business analyst requires him to acquire analytical skills as analytics form a very important part of the job. Also, with good analytical skills, you can reduce the time taken by every activity. Also, a major part of the business analyst job is to crunch numbers and data. Therefore, a business analyst needs to make use of the different analytical tools to come to a conclusion or to even analyse the data in the first place.
7. Decision-making skills: A business analyst is a respectable position in the company. They perform a pivotal role in managing the business. Also, a business analyst enjoys a great deal of autonomy. Therefore, he needs to make judicious use of his power and take decisions wisely. Also, these analysts are required to use their judgement in a lot of cases. Therefore, a good business analyst is most likely to have an impactful decision-making skill.

Conclusion

Business analysts are being demanded in all kinds of companies. They take up a professional approach to solve complex business problems. They play a very crucial role in running the business effectively and profitably.

Also Read: What is Life Like For a Business Analyst in India

Business analysis involves professionals who are responsible for understanding and identifying companies and various opportunities and issues. It requires the professionals to be hands-on and interact with people of higher positions like CEO, Vice President, Directing staff and thus understand their needs and what they require to embark on a successful plan.

There are 3 types of analysis in business. They are as follows:

• Strategic Analysis: This involves pre-planning a project and thus having an overview of all the risks and problems that may come up. Analysts would be required to come up with a fully functional plan and meet certain goals. This is then reported to upper management which uses the information to make rational decisions.
• Tactical analysis: This process involves gathering information on specific analysis techniques to use on an apt project.
• Operational analysis: Using AI and learning about the operational systems, in this type of analysis a professional would be required to gather information about various available opportunities.

In order to work in the area of business analysis, one needs to be well versed with the various business analysis tools and techniques that would be required. An aspirant can find out more and learn all the necessary information by going through a business analysis course.

Business Analysis Tools and Techniques

1. SWOT analysis: SWOT is an acronym. Each letter stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats respectively. In this technique, strength and weakness are intrinsic factors while opportunity and threat are extrinsic. Being an analysis technique at an enterprise position makes it applicable to fields outside of business as well. It is popular for how easy it is and can be applied to a project at any developmental stage efficiently. Hence, it is the most widely used technique.
2. MOST analysis: Standing as an acronym for Mission, Objective, Strategy and Tactics, this technique is among the best. It serves to gather information about the companies goals and plans and what it would require to make it successful. It makes sure that an organization maintains its focus on the project and on its goals.
3. BPM technique: BPM stands for Business Process Modelling. This method used to find the loopholes and gaps between existing and future processes. This technique makes it easy to have an overview of how the business would function in various roles. This allows planning and visualisation of further steps in the process of execution, making complex analysis simpler for professionals.
4. Use Case Modelling: This technique uses a pictorial representation of the interactions made by users. It helps convert the various project requirements into actionable specifications cradled within another already existing project for development. The various components of a UML diagram are as follows: 1. Systems 2. Use Case 3. Actors 4. Association 5. Stereotypes. This technique boasts various advantages. It allows the analyst to understand the functional requirements that were originally placed and emphasize on vital functional areas.
5. Brainstorming: A technique which serves as a base to other popular techniques such as SWOT and PESTLE analysis, Brainstorming is one of the most popular techniques amongst various analysts. This is a group activity which allows the members to formulate and present their ideas while looking at the various risks and loopholes and finding solutions to various issues.
6. PESTLE Analysis: This technique takes into account the various environmental influences that affect the business analysis. This includes Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors that serve to form the acronym. These factors play a huge role in finalizing business decisions. This straightforward framework requires a network of skills and a large amount of experience.

Hence a large amount of information needs to be known beforehand in order to work in this field. This can be done through a business analysis course. A business analysis course would prepare an aspirant while slotting in all the necessary tools in their tool belt to make them successful.

Also Read: What are Business Analysis Techniques

The business analyst position is one of the most promising career options in the age of data science. Any company that relies on progressive technology uses tons of data to make operational decisions that’ll be profitable for the business. The internet is flooded with business analyst courses given the widespread demand for business analyst professionals by businesses. So what does a data analyst do? Well, from a broader perspective the role involves churning tons of data to analyse the industry trend and market situation and make suggestions regarding the business operations. Let’s delve deeper into what the role encompasses and what are the key skills required for the job.

Role of a Business Analyst

The role of a business analyst is very dynamic and holds an array of responsibilities. A business analyst is responsible to bridge the gap between the IT and non-IT departments using data analytics. They work in close conjunction with the IT and Finance department to build a data-backed model which will help to improve business processes and minimize the cost incurred on such expeditions.
A typical job description for a business analyst might include tasks like budgeting and forecasting, price optimisation, variance analysis, doing a SWOT analysis, identifying new profitable avenues for the business, communicating with key stakeholders for a comprehensive analysis, etc. The job is multidimensional and requires very skilled professionals who have honed both their soft skills and technical skills to perfection. Let’s peep into some of the key skills required by business analyst professionals in the field.

Skills Required To Become Business Analyst

The job of a business analyst has multiple aspects to it and requires a mixture of balanced technical and soft skills, let’ learn about some of the key skills that help the business analyst in their professional life.

• Technical skills: Technical skills are the most crucial ones as a lot depends on the  competency of a business analyst to carry out details business analysis by factoring in multiple variables that might affect the business. Most of the software developments take place only after the business analyst’s recommendations post analysis. Understanding the technical applications and its relevance to the business is utmost important. In addition to this, a BA should also be able to analyse market trends and predict future trends based on historical data.
• Research skills: Given the enormous amount of information present in the age of data science, it is imperative to find relevant contextual information that’ll help the business. Research skills are the key to finding reliable information that is relevant to a particular business or industry. Using data analytics on irrelevant data won’t get the best results for a corporation.
• Critical thinking: Being good at research will not suffice. What you draw out from the research data is crucial to your success. This requires thinking critically with all that information present at hand after doing the research. When you obtain valuable insights from the data you can apply it to grow the business further. A lot of contemplation goes into drawing out conclusions from the data.
• Communication skills: When you can’t express all that you have understood about the business, it won’t be easier for people around you to comprehend your thinking and motive. An effective communicator needs to put forth their own opinion so that other parties can understand the data-based insights obtained. Being a good communicator means you should be as good a listener as you are a speaker. Listening to various stakeholders is the key to effective communication.
• Interpersonal skills: When you are working as a business analyst in a company, it requires you to communicate and understand the needs of various stakeholders. This requires you to have good interpersonal skills so that you can get along with the key stakeholders. The key here is to understand the motivation, objectives and inspirations of different parties to reach an understanding outcome.
• Negotiation skills: When you have to manage multiple stakeholders to the business you won’t be able to satisfy all the parties. The best outcome for one party will not necessarily produce the same for the other party. This needs an effective negotiator to balance the scales and settle the difference. Managing the conflict of opinions is the key to negotiating here.