The Need for Business Data Analytics Continues to Grow During COVID-19
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While many industries and job roles have taken a step back in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the need for business data analytics is growing. It is COVID-19 that is accelerating business data analytics. McKinsey & Company stated, “In these uncharted waters, where the tides continue to shift, it’s not surprising that analytics...has become an essential navigational tool. Analytics supports numerous urgent tasks facing businesses today: forecasting demand, identifying potential supply-chain disruptions, targeting support services to at-risk workers, and determining the effectiveness of crisis intervention strategies, to name a few.”1
McKinsey and Company explained that organizations without much experience with analytics are now relying on data analytics for the reasons mentioned above. According to a contributor to the source, analytics capabilities that in the past would have taken an organization anywhere from a matter of months to years to develop are now manifesting in weeks.
The University of Washington affirmed that the need for business analytics is currently growing. It stated that small business data use has been surging as COVID-19 has developed.2 A contributor wrote, “The State of BI and Business Analytics Report from Sisense...shows that a lofty 68% of small businesses are using analytics in their COVID-19 response. Furthermore, 50% of all companies report using data more often than pre-COVID times.”
The source cited business data analytics’ unique ability to offer business insights about the future as one of the reasons companies are relying more on analytics. For example, “45 percent of organizations are currently using data to predict future outcomes in their COVID-19 response,” wrote the contributor.
Another primary reason why companies are experiencing a greater need for business data analytics than ever is because organizations are going remote (i.e., moving to the cloud). This is changing how businesses are operated. Without business data analysis professionals helping organizations navigate and interpret these changes, business outcomes could suffer. After all, data analysts help companies keep customers satisfied, which is critical when the economy is unstable. The Current State of Data and Analytics and COVID stated,
“With tightened budgets and reduced spending forecasts, keeping customers engaged and satisfied is more crucial than ever. The C-suite needs to ensure teams are blending all their various data sources from different systems, both to address immediate issues and predict customer needs.”3 
Frankly, business data analysis is vital to organizations that want to retain customers.
It’s clear that companies have a legitimate, growing need for business data analytics, not in spite of the pandemic, but because of it. This provides business analysis professionals with a prime opportunity to grow their skill sets so they can better meet the needs of their clients and employers. And those who already have a high skill level in data analytics should strive to prove their skills to company leaders in order to establish themselves as experts in the field of analytics.
Earning IIBA’s Certification in Business Data Analytics helps prove a business analysis professional’s data analytics skills. The certification helps identify skilled business data analytics professionals to the many organizations seeking these skills, which are in high demand and will be in even higher demand as COVID-19 continues to play out.
Do you want to learn more about IIBA’s Certification in Business Data Analytics? Start Here
References:
- https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-analytics/our-insights/accelerating-analytics-to-navigate-covid-19-and-the-next-normal
- https://blog.foster.uw.edu/different-ways-business-analytics-used-pandemic/
- https://blog.qlik.com/the-current-state-of-data-and-analytics-and-covid