What Can I Do with an Analytics Degree?

Before enter­ing col­lege, prospec­tive stu­dents may come across majors that are new to them. For instance, while review­ing dif­fer­ent course offer­ings, stu­dents may won­der: “What is busi­ness ana­lyt­ics?” In the sim­plest of terms, busi­ness ana­lyt­ics will involve the col­lec­tion, sort­ing, and study­ing of busi­ness data. The goal of those in the busi­ness ana­lyt­ics field is to trans­form raw data into usable and high-val­ue busi­ness insights. To get a job in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, most firms require an under­grad­u­ate degree and a pro­fes­sion­al cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in the field.

What is Business Analytics and Business Intelligence?

There are many cat­e­gories with­in the field of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics. As an exam­ple, prospec­tive stu­dents usu­al­ly want to know what is ana­lyt­ics and busi­ness intel­li­gence. Are busi­ness ana­lyt­ics and busi­ness intel­li­gence inter­change­able terms? Although the two have sim­i­lar­i­ties, busi­ness ana­lyt­ics and busi­ness intel­li­gence are not iden­ti­cal. Com­mon job titles with­in the ana­lyt­ics indus­try include busi­ness ana­lyst and busi­ness intel­li­gence analyst.

Both posi­tions involve ana­lyz­ing data sets for the ben­e­fit of the com­pa­ny. How­ev­er, a busi­ness ana­lyst uses data to ana­lyze spe­cif­ic depart­ments with­in an orga­ni­za­tion. The ana­lyst looks at cur­rent pro­grams in place and the results each depart­ment is achiev­ing under the cur­rent work con­di­tions. The busi­ness ana­lyst is expect­ed to offer solu­tions to help improve process­es with­in a depart­ment. In turn, a busi­ness intel­li­gence ana­lyst is more focused on the big pic­ture than ana­lyz­ing a sin­gle depart­ment with­in an orga­ni­za­tion. They look at all busi­ness data from an orga­ni­za­tion as well as com­peti­tors. This gives a broad­er pic­ture on how a com­pa­ny is doing not only as a whole, but also with­in the industry.

Sim­i­lar skills are need­ed for a busi­ness ana­lyst and a busi­ness intel­li­gence ana­lyst. Soft skills need­ed include good com­mu­ni­ca­tion, lead­er­ship qual­i­ties, crit­i­cal think­ing, close atten­tion to detail, and time man­age­ment. Tech­ni­cal skills are a part of the job too since the ana­lyst must be com­fort­able work­ing with large sets of data and know­ing what pro­grams are avail­able for analyses.

Although bach­e­lor-lev­el degrees for busi­ness ana­lyt­ics are avail­able, col­leges do also offer grad­u­ate-lev­el degree options. At both the under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate lev­el, the future exec­u­tive learns about data analy­sis, account­ing analy­sis, man­age­ment sci­ence, and finance. Many col­leges pro­vide the option to attend degree tracks for busi­ness ana­lyt­ics online. Under­grad­u­ate and post-bach­e­lor pro­grams are offered at an accel­er­at­ed rate with grad­u­a­tion require­ments poten­tial­ly ful­filled in three years or less.

Besides look­ing at what is busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, pro­fes­sion­als often want to know what type of careers are avail­able. One poten­tial query: “What can I do with a degree in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics?” After degree con­fer­ment, the fol­low­ing are job oppor­tu­ni­ties to con­sid­er after fin­ish­ing a busi­ness ana­lyt­ics program:

• Mar­ket Research Analyst
• Busi­ness Analyst
• Mar­ket­ing Executive
• Quan­ti­ta­tive Analyst
• Data Man­ag­er
• Con­sul­tant

Spe­cial­ized jobs with­in the field will have dif­fer­ent edu­ca­tion require­ments. Poten­tial pro­fes­sion­als may won­der what’s the dif­fer­ence between each degree pro­gram. As an exam­ple, a com­mon query is “What can I do with a degree in busi­ness intel­li­gence and ana­lyt­ics?” Busi­ness intel­li­gence is con­sid­ered a more spe­cial­ized field. In turn, salaries are high­ly com­pet­i­tive. Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, the aver­age salary of busi­ness intel­li­gence ana­lysts exceed $83,000 per year. Job seek­ers with this type of degree may become:

• Data Spe­cial­ists
• Busi­ness Consultants
• Project Man­agers
• Busi­ness Intel­li­gence Analyst

Course offer­ings and major options for any busi­ness ana­lyt­ics-relat­ed major depend sole­ly on the col­lege. Stu­dents want to ask the fol­low­ing of admis­sions staff: What is data ana­lyt­ics? What is big data ana­lyt­ics? What types of pro­grams offer train­ing on both these sub­jects? The pro­gram select­ed by the prospec­tive stu­dent should include tra­di­tion­al data ana­lyt­ics and big data ana­lyt­ics with­in the cur­ricu­lum. The main dif­fer­ence between the two dis­ci­plines is data ana­lyt­ics focus­es on stan­dard data sets while big data ana­lyt­ics relates to deal­ing with data sets too large for tra­di­tion­al soft­ware analy­sis programs.

Since busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is such a broad field, col­leges present numer­ous path­ways to earn­ing a degree or cer­tifi­cate in the discipline.

School and Program Accreditation for Analytics

Any col­lege cho­sen by the prospec­tive stu­dent needs prop­er accred­i­ta­tion for suc­cess­ful job place­ment post-grad­u­a­tion. For a col­lege to become accred­it­ed, both the school and degree pro­gram must meet the accred­i­ta­tion board’s require­ments. The fol­low­ing facets are reviewed pri­or to accred­i­ta­tion: cur­ricu­lum, teach­ing staff mem­bers, and over­all post-grad­u­a­tion out­comes. Accred­i­ta­tion is extreme­ly impor­tant when look­ing for a job in the field of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics. Prospec­tive employ­ers are like­ly to review the pro­gram com­plet­ed by the appli­cant to con­firm legit­i­ma­cy. Also, if the stu­dent requires finan­cial aid, accred­i­ta­tion is a must. Fed­er­al fund­ing is only grant­ed through col­leges with region­al accred­i­ta­tion. There are both region­al and nation­al accred­i­ta­tion agen­cies for col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties with busi­ness analy­sis degree pro­grams. How­ev­er, for under­grad­u­ate degrees, region­al accred­i­ta­tion is pre­ferred. Nation­al accred­i­ta­tion may be accept­able for cer­tifi­cate programs.

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion con­firms that any cred­its earned through the pro­gram will more like­ly be accept­ed as trans­fer cred­its. How­ev­er, schools are not forced to accept any type of trans­fer cred­it. It’s up to the school’s sole dis­cre­tion. Stu­dents should reach out to any col­leges offer­ing busi­ness ana­lyt­ics degrees to deter­mine what type of under­grad­u­ate trans­fer cred­its may be applied to grad­u­a­tion require­ments. All 50 states are assigned a spe­cif­ic region­al accred­it­ing agency. As an exam­ple, the Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion is respon­si­ble for accred­i­ta­tion in north­east states such as New York, New Jer­sey, and Delaware.

The pri­ma­ry accred­it­ing body for busi­ness is the AACSB, the Asso­ci­a­tion to Advance Col­le­giate Schools of Busi­ness, while com­put­er sci­ence pro­grams are often accred­it­ed by ABET, the Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy. Busi­ness ana­lyt­ics and data ana­lyt­ics pro­grams are often found in either the busi­ness school or the com­put­er sci­ence school.

With­in the field of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, there are mul­ti­ple accred­it­ing bod­ies. These accred­i­ta­tion orga­ni­za­tions are most­ly respon­si­ble for accred­it­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. A cer­tifi­cate in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is a good idea to pur­sue after receiv­ing a bachelor’s degree in busi­ness, finance, or eco­nom­ics. The three main accred­it­ing agen­cies for busi­ness ana­lyt­ics are the Inter­na­tion­al Insti­tute of Busi­ness Analy­sis, the Inter­na­tion­al Qual­i­fi­ca­tion Board for Busi­ness Analy­sis, and Project Man­age­ment Institute.

The Inter­na­tion­al Insti­tute of Busi­ness Analy­sis (IIBA) is a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion that pro­vides accred­i­ta­tion for cer­tifi­cate pro­grams sought after by busi­ness ana­lysts. Those in the field can join the orga­ni­za­tion for access to these pro­grams along with shar­ing indus­try news and net­work­ing events. Mem­ber­ship for the orga­ni­za­tion exceeds 27,000 world­wide and local chap­ters are found with­in dozens of regions in the Unit­ed States.

At the Inter­na­tion­al Qual­i­fi­ca­tion Board for Busi­ness Analy­sis (IQBBA), all train­ings are cer­ti­fied by an accred­it­ing body before offered to mem­bers. The organization’s mis­sion is to retain best stan­dards with­in the busi­ness ana­lyt­ics indus­try. Based on expe­ri­ence lev­el, IQBBA mem­bers have access to dif­fer­ent cer­ti­fi­ca­tion programs.

Through the Project Man­age­ment Insti­tute (PMI), busi­ness ana­lysts are able to access a range of cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. The orga­ni­za­tion has a broad mem­ber­ship base with more than 55,000 paid mem­bers around the globe. The cer­ti­fied train­ings cov­er a range of top­ics with ana­lysts choos­ing to take the PMI-PBA course.

Types of Analytics Bachelor Degrees

Under­grad­u­ate degree options with­in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics depend on the col­lege. Some pro­grams may offer a tra­di­tion­al Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness Ana­lyt­ics. Oth­er high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions could have dif­fer­ent titled majors that are still appro­pri­ate for those pur­su­ing a career in busi­ness intel­li­gence and ana­lyt­ics. Poten­tial major options in addi­tion to busi­ness ana­lyt­ics include busi­ness foun­da­tions, busi­ness writ­ing, busi­ness com­mu­ni­ca­tions, sta­tis­tics, data ana­lyt­ics, and busi­ness law.

Many col­leges, both tra­di­tion­al and online, may not offer busi­ness ana­lyt­ics as a major choice. How­ev­er, more and more high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions are offer­ing busi­ness ana­lyt­ics as a co-major option. Along with busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, the stu­dent pur­sues a bach­e­lor degree in busi­ness eco­nom­ics, account­ing, mar­ket­ing, man­age­ment infor­ma­tion sys­tems, tech­nol­o­gy inno­va­tion man­age­ment, inter­na­tion­al busi­ness, and legal stud­ies. At grad­u­a­tion, the appli­cant will receive two degrees includ­ing a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness Analytics.

Anoth­er option is a dual degree track that per­mits the stu­dent to earn both an under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate degree simul­ta­ne­ous­ly. Through this type of pro­gram, the stu­dent pur­sues both a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness Ana­lyt­ics and a Mas­ter’s in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion. Addi­tion­al­ly, if a col­lege doesn’t offer busi­ness ana­lyt­ics as a major option is to minor in the sub­ject. Through the minor option, a min­i­mum of 24 cred­its is usu­al­ly need­ed for graduation.

Cours­es with­in a busi­ness ana­lyt­ics major and minor focus on method­olo­gies for ana­lyz­ing busi­ness data. Require­ments for grad­u­a­tion may include Intro­duc­tion to Data Ana­lyt­ics, Pro­gram­ming for Data Ana­lyt­ics, Pre­dic­tive Busi­ness Ana­lyt­ics, Data-Dri­ven Mar­ket­ing, Intro­duc­tion to Data Min­ing, and Intro­duc­tion to Big Data Ana­lyt­ics. At a tra­di­tion­al col­lege, degree require­ments for a bachelor’s degree will take four years. For those with a minor or co-major, it may require up to five years of full-time study.

More options are offered at the grad­u­ate lev­el. How­ev­er, prospec­tive busi­ness ana­lysts are usu­al­ly able to secure an entry-lev­el posi­tion with a firm after earn­ing an under­grad­u­ate data ana­lyt­ics degree online. After fin­ish­ing the bach­e­lor-lev­el pro­gram, the firm may ask the ana­lyst to com­plete a cer­tifi­cate in analytics.

Online Business and Data Analytics Programs

A busi­ness ana­lyt­ics online degree pro­vides the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pre­pare for a career in the field. Data ana­lyt­ics degrees online give flex­i­ble sched­ul­ing option to per­mit the stu­dent to take cours­es in his or her free time. Many busi­ness ana­lyt­ics degrees online are part-time or allow the indi­vid­ual to set the pace. All degree require­ments are usu­al­ly met in less than four years of study. Semes­ters for online busi­ness ana­lyt­ics degrees are usu­al­ly abbre­vi­at­ed and may only last six to eight weeks. The rig­or­ous pace makes these types of pro­grams chal­leng­ing, but reward­ing. Due to the high stan­dards of data ana­lyt­ics online degrees, these pro­grams promise an excep­tion­al return on invest­ment. Online learn­ing is so wide­spread man­agers no longer see a dis­tinc­tion between those who have earned a degree at a brick and mor­tar col­lege and those in dis­tance learn­ing programs.

Online busi­ness ana­lyt­ics degrees have the same cur­ricu­lum as tra­di­tion­al bach­e­lor pro­grams that take place on cam­pus. Core cours­es in busi­ness are need­ed as well as spe­cial­ized class­es in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics. Vir­tu­al col­leges may have the fol­low­ing under­grad­u­ate class­es with­in their busi­ness ana­lyt­ics degrees online curriculums:

• Mar­ket­ing Management
• Busi­ness Management
• Data­base Management
• Quan­ti­tate Research and Analysis
• Big Data Analysis
• Data Min­ing
• Intro­duc­tion to Busi­ness Analytics
• Advanced Busi­ness Analytics
• Pro­gram­ming for Statistics

To earn a data ana­lyt­ics degree online, the stu­dent either has to take all class­es online or com­plete a hybrid sched­ule. With a hybrid for­mat, most class­es are done online with only a mod­est num­ber of cam­pus vis­its need­ed. The same tools are offered to tra­di­tion­al and online stu­dents. The stu­dent is giv­en access to aca­d­e­m­ic advi­sors and career coun­selors. Tuition costs are usu­al­ly the same for tra­di­tion­al and data ana­lyt­ics online degrees. How­ev­er, online degree pro­grams cost less in the long run. Stu­dents save on com­mut­ing costs and course mate­ri­als. Plus, there is no income inter­rup­tion since stu­dents are able to con­tin­ue work­ing while attend­ing an online college.

Certificate Programs for Analytics

Get­ting a cer­tifi­cate in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed for career advance­ment. The cer­tifi­cate in ana­lyt­ics demon­strates to the prospec­tive employ­er that the pro­fes­sion­al has received spe­cial­ized train­ing on the lat­est tools in data ana­lyt­ics. Depend­ing on the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram, an online cer­tifi­cate in data ana­lyt­ics may be offered. How­ev­er, some orga­ni­za­tions still choose to hold proc­tored examinations.

The PMI-PBA cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is used to high­light the person’s orga­ni­za­tion­al skills and capa­bil­i­ties in dri­ving pre­ferred busi­ness out­comes. To qual­i­fy for the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, the appli­cant must have a bachelor’s degree and a min­i­mum of three years of busi­ness analy­sis expe­ri­ence. The online cer­tifi­cate in ana­lyt­ics is good for three years and can be renewed as long as the ana­lyst com­pletes 60 pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment cred­its with­in that time­frame. If the appli­cant for the pro­gram doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree, he or she must have at least five years of indus­try expe­ri­ence. Cer­tifi­cate cours­es are offered through PMI to pre­pare for the exam­i­na­tion. Exam costs are based on whether a not the appli­cant is a paid mem­ber of the PMI organization.

IQBBA pro­vides entry-lev­el cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics. In order to qual­i­fy for any high­er-lev­el cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, the entry-lev­el pro­gram must be com­plet­ed. There are no pre-req­ui­sites for the entry-lev­el cer­tifi­cate, but cer­tifi­cate cours­es in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is offered through the orga­ni­za­tion to help test tak­ers pre­pare. Tests from IQBBA must be com­plet­ed in per­son at an accred­it­ed exam facil­i­ty. Exam cen­ters are locat­ed in dif­fer­ent regions through­out the Unit­ed States.

IIBA is one of the only orga­ni­za­tions that have mul­ti­ple cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, includ­ing a cer­tifi­cate in big data ana­lyt­ics. Entry-lev­el ana­lysts will apply to the Entry Cer­tifi­cate in Busi­ness Analy­sis and can do so even with­out a bach­e­lor degree. The only require­ment for this exam­i­na­tion is 21 pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment cred­its fin­ished with­in the last four years. Lev­el 2 and Lev­el 3 cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is also avail­able through IIBA. To qual­i­fy for the Lev­el 2 exam­i­na­tion, at least 3,750 hours in the field of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is need­ed. For Lev­el 3, a min­i­mum of 3,750 hours of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics expe­ri­enced is need­ed. Each exam­i­na­tion gets pro­gres­sive­ly more dif­fi­cult with Lev­el 3 requir­ing 3.5 hours for test com­ple­tion. For Lev­el 2, the cer­ti­fied ana­lyst needs 21 pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment hours over a four-year time peri­od while Lev­el 3 cer­ti­fi­ca­tion requires 60 pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment cred­its over the course of three years.

The major­i­ty of prospec­tive busi­ness ana­lysts obtain cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics. This is espe­cial­ly impor­tant if the appli­cant has a degree in anoth­er field. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in ana­lyt­ics val­i­dates the person’s skill set. Recruiters will know that the appli­cant has met the com­pe­ten­cies required by the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram. A cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in ana­lyt­ics may also be used to lever­age salary. Salary pack­ages may be more lucra­tive since employ­ers know the per­son has gone through the nec­es­sary train­ings to pre­pare for the career. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams also have the poten­tial to act as a net­work­ing tool. While prepar­ing for the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in ana­lyt­ics exam, the pro­fes­sion­al may meet oth­er peers with­in the industry.

Anoth­er rea­son to con­sid­er cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in ana­lyt­ics is the pro­grams can pre­pare the per­son for a spe­cial­iza­tion. Spe­cial­iza­tions in ana­lyt­ics that are in demand include deep learn­ing, data engi­neer­ing on Google, data min­ing, big data analy­sis, cus­tomer ana­lyt­ics, and oper­a­tions ana­lyt­ics. Employ­ers can advise on what cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams are appro­pri­ate for the posi­tion. Although busi­ness ana­lyt­ics cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are avail­able through IIBA and IQBBA, oth­er orga­ni­za­tions may have cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for any in demand spe­cial­iza­tion in data ana­lyt­ics. Microsoft, INFORMS, and Cloud­era are just a few orga­ni­za­tions that has pro­grams for spe­cial­iza­tions in ana­lyt­ics that are in demand. To qual­i­fy for these exam­i­na­tions, online train­ing is usu­al­ly need­ed as well as a min­i­mum of pro­fes­sion­al experience.

Licen­sure is not required to work in the field of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics. Employ­ers set all hir­ing require­ments with no licens­ing need­ed through gov­ern­ing bodies.

Careers in Analytics

Careers in data ana­lyt­ics pro­vide the oppor­tu­ni­ty for the pro­fes­sion­al to help a busi­ness evolve and grow. Ana­lysts are need­ed in dif­fer­ent capac­i­ties with­in an orga­ni­za­tion. A career in ana­lyt­ics involve work­ing with­in a company’s finance, mar­ket­ing, or sales depart­ment. Career prospects in data ana­lyt­ics are promis­ing. This is because so many com­pa­nies require the skills of an ana­lyst. Poten­tial busi­ness ana­lyt­ics degree jobs can be found through pri­vate firms, non-prof­its, and gov­ern­ment agencies.

The top jobs for data ana­lyt­ics include:

• Finan­cial Analyst
• Busi­ness Intel­li­gence Analyst
• Busi­ness Analyst
• Mar­ket Research Analyst
• Oper­a­tions Research Analyst
• Infor­ma­tion Research Scientist
• Busi­ness Intel­li­gence Consultant

A finan­cial ana­lyst pro­vides a lucra­tive career in ana­lyt­ics. The exec­u­tive is respon­si­ble for review­ing a company’s finances and mak­ing rec­om­men­da­tions on what steps to take to improve the bot­tom line.

A busi­ness intel­li­gence ana­lyst involves col­lect­ing data with­in an orga­ni­za­tion and ana­lyz­ing how each depart­ment is per­form­ing under cur­rent con­di­tions. If pos­si­ble, the ana­lyst gath­ers data sets from com­peti­tors to com­pare results.

A busi­ness ana­lyst pro­vides sim­i­lar tasks as a busi­ness intel­li­gence ana­lyst. How­ev­er, the role with­in an orga­ni­za­tion is more focus­es. For instance, man­age­ment may ask the ana­lyst to review a depart­ment that is per­form­ing poor­ly to help gain insights on how to make improvements.

Anoth­er career in busi­ness ana­lyt­ics is a mar­ket research ana­lyst. Typ­i­cal­ly, this type of ana­lyst works per diem or on a free­lance basis. The mar­ket research ana­lyst research­es cur­rent mar­ket con­di­tions as a way to deter­mine con­sumer trends. The ana­lyst helps a busi­ness deter­mine whether a prod­uct or ser­vice is need­ed in the cur­rent mar­ket conditions.

A busi­ness ana­lyt­ics job descrip­tion for an oper­a­tions research ana­lyst is like­ly to include phras­es such as “reduce over­head” and “improve effi­cien­cy.” Ana­lysts with­in this sec­tor usu­al­ly advise man­agers and direc­tors on strate­gies to bet­ter man­age sup­ply and demand.

For infor­ma­tion research sci­en­tist careers, the ana­lyst eval­u­ates cur­rent tech­nolo­gies uti­lized by the orga­ni­za­tion. Changes will be sug­gest­ed by the ana­lyst with­in IT depart­ments to boost effi­cien­cy, improve data secu­ri­ty, and increase revenue.

A busi­ness intel­li­gence con­sul­tant works for a vari­ety of clients instead of a sin­gle orga­ni­za­tion. He or she will be hired to tai­lor busi­ness solu­tions to the organization’s pre­cise needs. Con­sul­tants choose their own hours and schedules.

The pre­ced­ing is just a sam­pling of data ana­lyt­ics entry-lev­el jobs. When cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are earned or grad­u­ate-lev­el degrees con­ferred, even more career options open up. As an exam­ple, a direc­tor of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics job descrip­tion is like­ly to request can­di­dates who are able to man­age ana­lyst activ­i­ties for an orga­ni­za­tion. A good leader is need­ed to use busi­ness ana­lyt­ics strate­gies to achieve orga­ni­za­tion­al goals. The direc­tor will be in charge of ensur­ing all per­son­nel are improv­ing prof­itabil­i­ty and oper­a­tions for the company.

Data and Business Analytics Jobs Salary Potential

Data ana­lyt­ics job salary aver­ages are very com­pet­i­tive. Man­age­ment ana­lysts have one of the high­est busi­ness ana­lyt­ics degree salary aver­ages at $83,610 annu­al­ly. Man­age­ment ana­lysts require a min­i­mum of a bach­e­lor degree and a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion as a Cer­ti­fied Man­age­ment Con­sul­tant. Oper­a­tions research ana­lysts have a very sim­i­lar busi­ness ana­lyt­ics salary at $83,390. Big data ana­lyt­ics salary is very lucra­tive with com­pa­nies pay­ing upwards of $85,000. Pay rates are com­pet­i­tive for this posi­tion due to the high demand for pro­fes­sion­als with this type of background.

Aver­age data ana­lyt­ics start­ing salary typ­i­cal­ly falls into the $50,000 to $65,000 range. With a bachelor’s degree, a mar­ket research ana­lyst can secure a posi­tion with an aver­age pay of $63,120.

With­in the job field, a data ana­lyt­ics major salary can be impact­ed by place of employ­ment. The top pay­ing orga­ni­za­tions for data ana­lysts are the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, man­u­fac­tur­ing firms, and tech­ni­cal com­pa­nies. Salaries for ana­lysts that work at the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment exceed $110,000 per year.

Met­ro­pol­i­tan areas will have the high­est num­ber of avail­able busi­ness ana­lyst jobs. Top pay­ing states for data ana­lysts are:

• New Jer­sey
• Vir­ginia
• New York
• Hawaii
• Dis­trict of Columbia

Professional Organizations

Join­ing a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion for busi­ness ana­lysts pro­vides the oppor­tu­ni­ty to net­work with oth­ers in the field. The orga­ni­za­tion is also like­ly to keep ana­lysts abreast of any indus­try news. Most impor­tant­ly, pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions spon­sor train­ing ses­sions for busi­ness ana­lysts and offer a selec­tion of cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. Orga­ni­za­tions for those in the field of busi­ness ana­lyt­ics include:

• Inter­na­tion­al Insti­tute of Busi­ness Analytics
• Dig­i­tal Ana­lyt­ics Association
• INFORMS: Insti­tute for Oper­a­tions Research and Man­age­ment Sciences

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Analytics

15 Best Online Train­ing and Devel­op­ment Programs