A Guide To MBA In Business Analytics From IIM

Business analysis is the hottest job of the century. Find out what you need for an MBA in business analytics from IIM and what are your career prospects. By IIM Skills- online CAT coaching.

Do you know that simply by existing, we create large amounts of data? This is because we humans are inherently consumers of different products. Our credit card transactions, our online purchases, our internet history, and app usage behavior, are all collected somewhere so that marketers, especially MBA in business analytics, can study that data.

Every business has always wanted data to study consumer behavior. This is because consumer surveys have limitations. Test subjects are known to behave differently in a controlled environment than they would normally. But the internet data is all real data and reflects actual trends and behavior of consumers.

This data contains information like buying behavior, trends, user feedback and reviews, and many more. This data is highly valuable to the companies so that they can target consumers interested in similar products, sell complementary products, or improve existing products.

In times before the internet, user data was minimal and scarce and companies had to take a lot of effort and spend a lot of money to find ideas or test their products and gain insights.

Today, there is so much data for companies that there is not enough manpower to analyze it. Both structured, as well as unstructured data that businesses collect every day, is called Big data.

Big data is extremely crucial for companies today. The information that is drawn from the analysis of this big data is worth a fortune.

But to analyze and make actionable insights from this big data, companies need business analysts. And this is where an MBA in business analysis from IIM comes in.

With an MBA in business analytics, you can discover new trends and patterns in consumer behavior, by looking at the data. For example, you can sort customers by their age, gender, location, web history, product history, and so on.

Then you can target these customers specifically, with your products and offers. Since you are targeting an audience that is already interested in similar products, the impressions are much more likely to convert to actually sales.

So, by using big data, you have increased the efficiency of the marketing budget by targeting those people who are more likely to buy the product. This is better than a general targeting to a large population because the conversion ratio is higher.

This gives the company more bang for the buck. This job requires technical skills as well as good planning and skills for spotting tiny details in data. The insights are only useful if they can be acted upon.

However, this is not the only application of a Business analytics MBA. Let us learn in detail what business analytics or business analysis actually is.

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What is Business Analytics?

Business analytics or BA is the process of systematic investigation of data collected by any agency or business. Business analytics heavily uses statistics and is largely used by large organizations for data-driven business decisions.

An MBA in business analytics helps you and your company gain skills so that they can develop insights into their business decisions and the market, to either increase their profit margin, make their processes efficient, or gain an edge over the competition.

The business analysis was once used to draw data after the events have happened but today, data is stored and analyzed in real-time, and decisions are implemented instantly affecting consumer behavior as soon as possible.

Different business strategies can be tested in real-time before they are implemented for the whole market. For example, business analysis can be used to offer a different selection of products to different consumers on a website, based on the search history.

This level of operations requires developed software tools and a large amount of relevant and specific information.

Big data is useful for all businesses. Irrespective of size, all businesses want to make informed data-driven decisions and cut losses. But being completely data-driven entails huge costs in itself.

The error margins are small and the competition between companies is high resulting in dynamic decision-making capabilities for big decisions.

The decisions are made on the basis of quality data rather than banking on the experiences and intuition of business managers. And this is why companies need professionals who have MBA in business analytics degrees.

Doing an MBA in Business Analytics will give you the following benefits:

• Quicker solutions to issues
• Less guessing and more fact-based solutions
• Consumer behavior patterns and insights
• Lateral sales opportunities
• Real-time metrics and reports

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What do you study Business analytics MBA?

There are two divisions of business analysis: First is Business intelligence, and the second one is Advanced Analytics. Both are of major emphasis in a Business analytics MBA in India.

MBA in Business analysis helps candidates learn the process and technique of analyzing recorded data and gain insights on the operations of a particular department or arm of a company.

This is not limited to marketing but all the departments. This part is called business intelligence. This has been present for a few decades. Business intelligence includes the following processes:

• Collecting data
• Recording data or reporting
• “Online analytical processing OLAP”

The second part of a Business analytics MBA is Advanced analytics. Advanced Analytics is a relatively newer branch. It entails much deeper factual and statistical analysis.

Examples include using predictive statistical analytics and advanced algorithms to predict how a product or service or a new feature will be received, based upon historical data.

This is the part that has reinvented business analytics to the form we see today. Since this is new, many companies are hiring many Business analytics MBA in large numbers.

The different processes in Advanced analytics include:

• data cluster analysis
• data mining
• algorithms for simulation

There are different processes in business analytics on the basis of the job. These are:

Descriptive analysis

This analysis helps in developing insights on the basis of old data. The data is based on what has already happened. This helps companies study trends and learn about the operation inside the company.

Predictive analysis

This is a relatively new category that uses advanced machine learning and statistical algorithms to form Mathematical models to predict how the trends and patterns are going to look like over time.

In simple words, it helps us know what could probably happen next. SO in a way, it is forecasting trends.

Prescriptive analysis

This uses both old as well as current information to make crucial business decisions. The decisions are based on the simulation process and optimization of processes.

It helps make decisions to streamline the business flow and reduce wastage of resources, and often involves risk management and efficient use of resources.

What is the difference between business analytics and data analytics?

In India, both business analytics and data analytics are used interchangeably, however, there are significant differences in the purposes of both fields.

Both business analytics and data analytics(or data science) use big data to understand trends and behavior to make business decisions. In India, both fields are growing rapidly, and have plenty of job opportunities that pay high salaries, especially to the candidates from top engineering and management colleges.

Both types of professionals require strong computational skills and the ability to spot trends and patterns in data during analysis. However, there are many jobs that require the elements of both skills.

But they are still two different fields and should not be confused with each other.

Data scientists and analysts work with the data analysis process by developing customized algorithms to collect and analyze and specific data types.

Their work largely consists of mathematics and programming and in recent times, machine learning to create mathematical models.

While business analysts have a job that is more towards application rather than developing programs. An MBA in business analysis is about solving business problems and crises with the use of big data, to help businesses optimize their processes.

Business analysis MBA teaches students to leverage big data to identify trends and patterns that could save costs, save labor efforts, and in some cases save businesses from bankruptcy.

Data scientists work with unstructured data and develop programs and algorithms whereas business analysts work mostly with organized and structured data and already developed software.

Why an MBA in business analytics?

An ideal candidate for an MBA in business analytics from IIM is one who has an analytical mindset and identifies themself as a problem-solver. The candidate has the proclivity to analyze patterns from data and statistics to identify the root of a problem.

The candidate must like to solve problems and must be ready to analyze huge amounts of data for efficient decision-making.

An MBA in business analytics is simply a conventional MBA but with a special focus and emphasis on business analytics. An MBA in business analytics makes you a full-fledged professional in business administration with an added skill of analyzing data from modern analytics tools and software.

This is what makes a business analytics MBA one of the hottest jobs of the 21st century. It is highly valuable to organizations and possesses both technical as well as skills of business administration like leadership, interpersonal skills, and business practices.

In an MBA in business analytics from IIM or any other top management institute, you will first and foremost, learn about business management. You will learn the fundamentals of business and operations and develop both hard and soft skills.

These skills will be taught during your beginning semesters or core classes.

• Leadership
• Management
• Accounting
• Finance
• Marketing
• International Business
• Operations
• Macroeconomics
• Microeconomics
• Human Resources

In a business analytics MBA from IIM, you will learn all the basics and core lessons of an MBA, but from an angle of data. Here, you will get to learn and use business analytics tools and software, do projects on those tools, and suggest decisions.

IIM has the best faculty who have industry experience and therefore, can teach real-world practices and lessons. Your business analytics specific classes would comprise of these subjects:

• marketing analytics
• financial analytics
• operations analysis
• applied regression
• data mining
• strategy
• spreadsheet
• accounting
• mathematical modeling and prediction

You will also complete numerous projects and internships in real businesses as part of your learning curriculum. This will help you gain unmatched skills and experience, and also credibility to the recruiters before you start your career as a business analyst in India.

The MBA in business analytics lasts 2 years if done full-time. It is a great option for candidates looking to change fields and have an interest in solving problems in businesses or having their own business someday.

There are also part-time programs and accelerated programs in business analytics in India. They are especially for working professionals who wish to advance their careers and gain some new skills.

You can do this MBA with any bachelor’s degree however candidates with a technical background will have an advantage since there is extensive analyzing and studying of lots of data.

Difference between an MBA and an MS in Business Analytics

If you have been interested in studying business analysis after graduation, there are two programs ie. MBA and an MS.

Both of these programs train students in the analysis of structured and unstructured data and making data-driven decisions in a business. Both are 2-year programs. Both put emphasis on subjects like data mining and predictive modeling.

The costs of both programs are comparable given for MS you will have to leave India, but for other graduate-level programs in M.Tech at IIT, you may not have to leave the country, however, these programs are more common in data science rather than business analysis.

The major difference between an MBA and an MS in business analysis is in the approach. The former is about business while the latter is technical. The major work of graduates with an MBA in business analysis is to make business decisions on the basis of data from data analytics software and predictive models.

MBA makes business leaders who are responsible for making decisions, such as improving the supply chain, restructuring, and setting marketing strategies.

An MS in business analytics is more technical than applied. The MS is about data and research on the data analytical techniques.

It is more focused on imparting hard skills of data analysis tools and algorithms rather than making choices and hard decisions as business leaders. An MS in business analytics is more focused on programming, mathematics, statistics, and developing algorithms and software.

Business analytics MBA online

Since the popularity in business analysis is relatively recent compared to marketing or finance MBA, many business schools have started offering online programs for working professionals, who do not want to leave their jobs but to learn the new data-driven model of business to stay relevant.

Many good management schools also offer MBA in Business analytics for candidates who want to learn part-time.

There are a few advantages to learning online or part-time. The candidate does not have the leave the job, which is the most important part.

This way they do not have to look for jobs after graduating. Also, in the best colleges and online courses for business analytics, the faculty that teaches in the classroom are also the ones who teach online, so the quality of the program and the course material is the same.

You can also study on-demand. You do not have to follow the classes every day and can go through them at your own pace.

There are also some disadvantages though. In an online course, it will be hard to do projects and assignments properly which is a big part of learning.

MBA is also about leadership and communication. So, if you are not a working professional, it is advised you go for the full-time MBA program. As a full-time student, you will get the benefit of real-time learning, project collaboration, and business analysis internships that prepare you completely as a business analyst.

What are the job opportunities in Business Analysis in India?

Business analysis is considered one of the hottest jobs of the 21st century. compared to MBA in marketing or finance, which are relatively older fields with a proven track record, business analytics is growing rapidly and in much higher demand in big corporations.

The rate at which new graduates are coming out of college is too low considering the high demand for business analysts in the business world.

Data analysis is the new most popular branch among a large percentage of candidates. Because there is a big shortage of good and efficient data and business analysts. This is why many companies are hiring engineers and training them to fill the shortage of MBA in business analysts.

This is why it is unreasonable to worry about the job market as an MBA in business analytics. There are many industries to choose from mainly technology, healthcare, manufacturing, and even management consulting firms that help other businesses with their skills in business analysis.

These companies include Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte, Cognizant, Accenture, Wipro, Infosys, many fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and many startups like MuSigma, Fractal Analytics, and AbsolutData. There are several more companies that have a demand for business analysts.

Job titles you can get after an MBA in Business Analytics include:

• Marketing Manager
• Business Intelligence Analyst
• Operations Analyst
• Management Analyst
• Business Analytics Specialist
• Management Consultant
• Supply Chain Analyst
• Financial Advisor
• Financial Analyst

Salary of an MBA in Business Analytics?

Job opportunities for Business Analysts:

• Leadership
• Technological aptitude
• Facility with statistics
• Decision making
• understanding of analytical tools
• skill in database management
• Business acumen
• Strategic mindset
• Big picture thinking
• Good knowledge of domain area

Since business analysis jobs are one of the highest in demand, an MBA business analyst requires strong business as well as technical and analytical skills in order to get great packages.

According to payscale, the average salary of a senior business analyst is about Rs. 8.5 lacs. However, you can even start with a much higher salary if you are an MBA in business analytics from IIM or any other top business school.

There are also other benefits in addition to high salaries. The placement record is close to 100%. They get to work in great cities. There is a good work-life balance compared to other MBA branches.

While other MBA branches are notorious for demanding more hours per week, business analysts are much more satisfied with their schedules which allows them more time away from the job as well as high salaries and perks.

If you possess the skills required of a business analyst stated above like Leadership and interpersonal skills but also sharp analytical skills and reaching adat-driven solutions, you will be a good fit as a business analyst.

An ideal candidate in business analysis is one who can call themselves a problem-solver and an analytical thinker.

However, if you think you fit better in a role where you talk to people and like to travel more, and if you’d prefer to avoid looking at statistics and spreadsheets all day trying to find trends and patterns, this may not be the best job for you.

This is a branch of MBA with many technical elements to it. You will spend lots of time on analytical tools and software, and making calculations if you want to succeed as a business analyst.

If you think, you’d more interested in an MBA in marketing or finance, or any other branch, then you should go for them. Any MBA from IIM will get you great job opportunities for your fulfillment and career growth.

Think more about your interests and less about the job prospects, although they are important. This will give you more satisfaction.

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