From the course: Introduction to Career Skills in Data Analytics

How are business analytics and BI different?

From the course: Introduction to Career Skills in Data Analytics

How are business analytics and BI different?

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- I started running about four years ago and it made me realize that business intelligence, business analytics, and even data analytics are really three individual things with lots of overlap. Let me break it down. I was preparing for my first half marathon. I needed the data to tell me how fast I was running so I could improve my speed. That speed for my mile was my business intelligence. For this example, it represents a single number. Business analysis focuses on all the numbers that would allow me to get faster over time by again, analyzing the data and creating more of it. For me, every time I made a run, I was tracking that information. Data analysis is where we analyze and capture the actual data. We can then analyze the historical data, keep capturing new data as it grows every day. To use all these concepts together, I was comparing every run to the last run. However, initially I just started capturing a run to establish a baseline and I just added more runs and more miles. The business intelligence was telling me how fast on average I was running a mile or the timing of certain miles, like, my 5K speed versus just my single mile. I had a goal that I wanted to attain. So, using business analysis skills, I applied this to my running. I would also use other values, like where I ran, what time I was running, to determine my future outcomes. For example, I discovered I needed to change my shoes. I changed my shoes, I ran a little bit faster and I hurt a lot less. I also discovered that if I picked more familiar routes, that I might run a little bit faster than on a route that was new. I was using these pieces of information to adjust my routine so I could see a faster speed over time. So, business intelligence tells us where we are on any given day for any process that we use data to study. My example is running. But it could easily be applied to business metrics, like, sales or production. And business analytics helps us to see the trends and predict future outcomes which are critical to businesses. We need both business intelligence and business analytics and we use data analysis to determine where we are and how to reach our end goals or the desired outcomes. Think of it this way. Business intelligence can tell you how you're performing today and business and data analysis can tell you how you can potentially perform in the future.

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