Business Analytics and the Best Supporting Tools

7 min readSep 26, 2022

There has been a lot of talk about Business Analytics. Is the discussion worth it?

Check it out in this article

Introduction

Business analytics is an excellent professional path to pursue. According to LinkedIn, there are 23.3 million people interested in this field, including 9.8 million ‘Business Analysts’ and 4.4 million ‘Senior Business Analysts.’ By the end of 2026, market growth is estimated to reach 14.3%. A 4–5 year experienced Business Analyst may anticipate an average income of 8.7 LPA, whilst a Senior BA with 10–20 years of experience can expect a compensation of 12.5 LPA.

Role of Business Analytics

Business Analytics refers to a collection of tools and processes used to examine and solve an organization’s data, performance, and business challenges (BA).

Business analytics uses data analysis, statistical analysis, and other quantitative tools to drive decision-making, obtain insights, and execute business choices, ultimately enhancing an organization’s revenue, productivity, and efficiency.

Need for Business Analytics

Many businesses are still confused about how to evaluate vast volumes of data in today’s data-driven environment, where the success of any firm is strongly reliant on a massive quantity of data. This is where business analytics comes in. Data-driven organisations frequently hire Business Analysts to assist them in making choices and providing insights based on past data. This also enables businesses to be more efficient, improve and automate their operations, and concentrate on revenue and growth.

One obvious benefit of Business Analytics is that it assists firms in understanding immediate and long-term risks based on accessible data such as consumer preferences, trends, and so on. Business analytics helps firms to understand why and how certain results are obtained, decrease risks, investigate more efficient business processes and solutions, and forecast the likelihood of specific outcomes.

After reading all about Business Analytics, now you might be wondering what different types of tools Business Analyst use. Or, if you want to be a world-class business analyst then you should have an upper hand on some professional tools.

Note:

This article will help you to gain knowledge about the most demanding tools. To understand the full working of the tools — Stay Connected as more articles are on the way.

Here is a list of ten best Business Analytics tools that according to me will be a good fit for Business Analysts (If you know any other tool then, do mention it in the comments):

1. Excel

2. SAS

3. Power BI

4. Tableau

5. Qlik Sense

6. Splunk

7. MicroStrategy

8. Sisense

9. Board

10. Domo

Let’s understand the function of these tools

1. Excel:

It is the most flexible analytical programme available on the market, and it is still utilised for corporate analytics. It is one of the most affordable, accessible, and simple to use. It can deal with little and huge amounts of data thanks to sophisticated capabilities like form generation, PivotTable, VBA, and so on. Thrive is one of the simplest programs to use, and experts of many backgrounds can excel in it.

One of the best parts is a lot of different templates are available that help you to automate your data collection part as data from the web or NodeXL, etc.

2. SAS

It is a powerful, user-friendly, and adaptable technology that is widely used in the analytics business. SAS is generally suited for any major organization’s data mining process since it is loaded with a variety of statistical tools. It meets Business Analytics needs by easing the process of evaluating big volumes of data in less time using ML, AI, and automation. SAS has developed new modules for IoT, SAS anti-money laundering, data mining, data visualisation, text analytics, forecasting, SAS analytics pro, and many more to make the most of SAS analytics.

3. Microsoft Power BI

It is a prominent business analytics application that specializes in data visualisation and allows users to build interactive user reports. It provides data warehousing features such as data preparation and data discovery, as well as the ability to recognize real-time trends and generate reports. Apart from a desktop-based interface called “Power BI Desktop,” it also offers cloud-based business services called “Power BI Services,” which can be accessed from practically anywhere.

4. Tableau

It is yet another robust Analytics application that can connect to any data source and generate personalized data visualisations, maps, and dashboards. Its robust data finding and cleaning features enable users to conduct analytical tasks in seconds. It is simple to learn, reliable and does not require any sophisticated scripting. The statistical tools in Tableau enable users to conduct in-depth analysis and forecast patterns based on current and historical data.

5. Qlik Sense

It is developed by Qlik. It is yet another sophisticated next-generation analytics application that enables users to build visualisations, charts, interactive dashboards, and many other features. It is a cloud-based Analytics programme that improves the quality of data mining and processing by utilizing Machine Learning and powerful Artificial Intelligence. It offers analytics to all sorts of users and is adaptable across public, private, and hybrid clouds.

6. Splunk

It is another popular business analytics tool developed by Splunk Technology, a San Francisco-based corporation. Splunk is used to process machine log file data, as well as capture, index, and detect correlations between real-time data. This information is used to create graphs, reports, and dashboards, among other things. Splunk is often utilised in small and medium-sized businesses.

7. MicroStrategy

It is a leading business analytics solution that provides data discovery, visualisation, and online services. It integrates a variety of business research tools and hosts various sources of data for analysis, as well as allowing the user to produce and distribute reports from any place or device. It also enables the efficient processing of unstructured text data. MicroStrategy takes only a basic grasp of programming, data analysis, and SQL to operate.

8. Sisense

It is a business analytics programme that enables users to do significant data analysis and visualisation on large volumes of complicated data. It is utilised by both small enterprises and large corporations. It assists users in bringing data from a range of sources, combining various data sets, making data-driven choices and forecasting future trends. Various industry experts, such as Gartner and Dresner, have identified Sisense as a premier cloud analytics platform.

9. Board

It is another top-rated corporate analytics tool, best known for its analytics paradigm, which allows users to generate bespoke intuitive and interactive user reports and dashboards. By manipulating data using data visualisation, drill-down, and drill-through capability, it can manage huge data volumes and allow accurate analysis and forecasting.

10. Domo

It is a comprehensive cloud-based business analytics platform that combines different data sources and supports a wide range of connectors. It is simple to use, provides micro and macro-level insight, and allows users to monitor real-time data. It is frequently utilised by both small and large businesses. Domo is intended to help organisations identify effective solutions and take informed decisions based on the insights acquired.

The need for business analysts and business analytics tools is growing in a variety of industries, including automotive, healthcare, retail, banking, and hospitality. You may choose the best tool for you and master it based on your interest and expertise.

Now you can decide whether the discussion was worthwhile or not

If you want to know — how to use these tools then — Stay Tunned as more articles are on the way on individual Tools with their proper functioning.

By understanding and mastering the functioning of these tools, one can be a world-class Business Analyst and help the business to grow efficiently and effectively.

All the best to all budding Business Analysts.