A career as a business intelligence manager presents an exciting opportunity to leverage data and analytics expertise to help businesses make informed decisions. If you have experience in data analysis, know how to keep track of important metrics, and possess strong communication skills, this might be the perfect path for you. With the right combination of skills and experience, this profession can offer great job satisfaction and financial rewards.
What Is Business intelligence?
Business intelligence (BI) is an umbrella term that refers to various tools, technologies, and methods that enable businesses to collect, store, visualize, and analyze large amounts of data. It is an essential part of any modern business operation, as it allows companies to make informed decisions, using data to provide insights into their performance in areas such as marketing, customer service, and product development. By leveraging data from different areas of their operations, including sales, customer service, operations, and IT processes, BI provides insights into trends, patterns, and behaviors that can help companies make better decisions.
Business intelligence allows companies to track their internal processes, identify potential areas for improvement, and adjust accordingly. Furthermore, BI applications allow for predictive modeling – forecasting future performance based on past trends. With business intelligence techniques like predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms, companies are looking for uncommon correlations between events to gain a competitive edge. When used strategically and creatively through timely decision-making and innovation practices, all organizations can benefit from unlocking the power of big data. Ultimately, BI leads to improved efficiency and productivity, enabling businesses to make strategic decisions more quickly and remain competitive in a dynamic market environment.
Is Business Intelligence a Good Career?
Business intelligence is a rapidly growing field and presents many career opportunities, whether you’re just entering the workforce or making a career change. It requires a deep understanding of data and computer science while encouraging creativity in problem-solving, allowing the BI analyst to influence a company’s success. Professionals in this field often command high salaries due to the demand created by businesses looking for experts who can take advantage of data-driven solutions. Working with data analysis and software development skills, these professionals can help their companies make incredible advancements in technological innovation by leveraging large volumes of data. For this reason, business intelligence is an excellent career choice for everyone, from entry-level employees all the way up to experienced executives.
What is a Business Intelligence Manager?
A business intelligence manager is a professional tasked with gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data in order to support a company’s decision-making process. They oversee market and customer research, data warehouse operations, database analysis and modeling, budget preparation and forecasting, and predictive analytics. This role requires attention to detail, the ability to think critically about statistics and metrics, and the know-how to convert reports into patterns that inform strategic priorities. In particular, business intelligence managers should have a command of database design and management systems as well as computer programming languages. Personable communication skills are also crucial for synthesizing and presenting results effectively so organizational leaders can gain insight from the findings.
What Does a Business Intelligence Manager Do?
Business intelligence managers are responsible for making sense of a vast array of data and extracting meaningful information that their organization can use to inform decision-making and enhance performance. They provide insights and intelligence to the business by using market research, predictive analytics, and trend analysis to identify opportunities that will bring about growth. Business intelligence managers work cross-functionally with teams in a variety of departments, such as marketing and finance, to develop data-based strategies. They provide assessments on the current and past performance of projects or activities, which helps an organization reach its goals. Additionally, they create dashboards that act as visualizations that turn complex sets of data into actionable information quickly.
Business Intelligence Job Description – Duties and Responsibilities
The primary duties of business intelligence professionals are to identify a company’s data needs, analyze that data to gain meaningful insights, and create reports to improve the decision-making process. Business intelligence analysts must also use key metrics and industry trends to optimize performance, track progress toward corporate goals, and provide regular updates to stakeholders while adhering to strict information security standards. This is a position with many unique responsibilities, and excellent job satisfaction comes from observing tangible changes in a company’s efficiency due to the efforts of your analyses.
Being a business intelligence professional requires an individual to possess strong analytical skills, technical knowledge, and communication abilities. Responsibilities for a business intelligence position include the following:
- Designing, developing, and maintaining databases and data warehouses
- Analyzing businesses and competitive environments
- Mining large data sets to discover patterns and trends
- Providing company stakeholders with analytical solutions to support decision-making processes
- Managing the organization of large data sets and visualizations
- Building reporting tools and dashboards to track key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Generating reports using established guidelines from market research projects
- Writing user documentation
This position also involves working with advanced analytics technologies like AI/machine learning models and user experience-focused web and mobile applications. With all these duties in mind, excellent attention to detail is essential for this role to ensure accuracy in both the quality and accurate interpretation of delivered results.
Business Intelligence Manager Career Paths
There are a variety of career paths to consider if you’re interested in becoming a business intelligence manager. Some roles that would set you on the path to this managerial position include:
Data Scientist
Data scientists collect and analyze available data they determine to be useful for a given project. They are responsible for creating, testing, and updating data algorithms and predictive models as needed. They then utilize data visualization software to present their findings and make recommendations to internal and external stakeholders based on the results of their analysis.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), data analysts have a projected job growth of 36% through 2031, which is must faster than average for all occupations, and a median salary of $100,910 per year as of 2021.
Operations Research Analyst
Companies and organizations employ operations research analysts to help them identify problems using various resources, including customer feedback, sales histories, and databases. They gather input from current and former employees and industry experts, then analyze the data to find information relevant to any identified problems. Operations research analysts then present their findings to management and administration, along with recommendations for improvement and how to avoid the issue recurring in the future.
According to the BLS, operations research analysts have a projected job outlook of 23% through 2031, much faster than average, and earn a median salary of $82,360.
Market Research Analyst
Market research analysts apply their data analysis and research skills to monitor and predict marketing trends and measure the effectiveness of current marketing strategies. They collect data on customers (current and prospective), the competition, and market conditions, using tools like surveys and questionnaires, and then utilize statistical software to analyze the collected data. Market research analysts convert their findings into visualizations like tables and graphs, as well as written reports, and then present the results to their clients.
According to the BLS, market research analysts have a projected job outlook of 19%, which is faster than average, and their median pay is 63,920 per year.
Business Intelligence Analyst
Perhaps the most obvious career stepping stone on the way to becoming a business intelligence manager, business intelligence analysts perform many of the same duties without the supervisory responsibilities of a management role. They collect and analyze data to help businesses make informed decisions and then present their findings to interested parties in a digestible format.
According to O*NET, business intelligence analysts have a faster-than-average job outlook of 11% and a median salary of $100,910.
How to Become a Business Intelligence Manager
While some roles in the business intelligence field do not require formal education, the knowledge and skills necessary for these positions are hard to come by independently. Most employers will prefer candidates with at least a bachelor’s degree in a related subject, such as computer science or data analytics.
Once you have a couple of years of experience, you can become a Certified Business intelligence Professional (CBIP), one of the highest standards for data professionals. This certification requires you to pass three exams demonstrating your proficiency in data analysis and design, business analytics, and leadership and management. Obtaining your CBIP certificate shows employers you are committed to professional development and will be able to help their company make the best-informed decisions possible.
Candidates interested in getting a leg up on the competition or in management roles should seriously consider earning a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Business Analytics like the one offered at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Gary W. Rollins College of Business. An MBA in Business Analytics provides you with the higher-level expertise and industry insight you need to advance your business intelligence career. If you’re ready to continue to start on the path to becoming a business intelligence manager, contact UTC today.
