Success in modern business requires leaders with advanced skills, knowledge, experience and technological competence. The global playing field has evolved because the internet, e-commerce and easy access to rapid, international supply chain and logistics channels make it easy for businesses halfway around the world to compete with local companies.
Additionally, business leaders are inundated with information at a much faster pace than ever before. The exponential growth of computing power and big data generation along with rapid advancements in AI-driven technologies put more complex demands on company executives charged with making decisions. These developments also give leaders access to the information and analytics tools today’s companies leverage to achieve business goals.
The business community has valued the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree for many years. Many leaders are now discovering that an online MBA with a concentration in Data Analytics is even more useful and valuable in today’s data-driven business world.
Delivering the Skills for Advancement
The University of Southern Indiana’s online MBA in Data Analytics adds specialized knowledge to a high-level business education. Knowing how to properly gather, organize, analyze, interpret and draw insight from data is often the key to a business leader’s success and, in turn, crucial to a company’s survival in the digital age.
Data-savvy business leaders also know how to communicate and present information and analysis, which is just as critical. This involves using cutting-edge analytics technologies like data visualization tools that aid in large-scale analysis and translation into usable, understandable insight. These tools offer insights to business users with proficiency and allow them to support the data-informed decision-making that drives a successful business.
Career-minded professionals with C-suite ambitions can leverage the knowledge and skills gained through an MBA in Data Analytics. Consider some of the common scenarios business leaders wrestle with today.
If your company is looking for ways to grow, global expansion is a strategy to consider. However, evaluating, planning and executing such a strategy is complicated and requires a broad base of knowledge.
Data analysis skills are required in several areas:
- Performing market segmentation analysis to gauge demand for your product or service
- Analyzing your offering against local products, which involves studying the competition
- Considering potential market growth to determine if the long-term opportunity justifies the investment
- Devising effective data management and data governance plans that can scale with global expansion
An MBA in data analytics prepares you to make these analyses, develop informed strategies and plans and make use of the advanced technological tools that support all these processes. Further, as you advance in your managerial career, your analytical skills will enable you to review, understand and interpret the statistical summaries prepared by your reports. This is essential for continuous improvement and rapid response to shifts in the market, supporting the ongoing iteration and adaptation of strategies and processes.
When it comes to global expansion, for instance, devising and executing a strategy requires even more knowledge and skills than analyzing data. Managers require broader business skills to deliver on strategic initiatives in the following ways:
- Write business plans that define the overall strategy
- Set goals and objectives
- Establish a management structure
- Propose an annual budget and perform other tasks
While a statistics expert can handle data analysis, a professional with an MBA in Data Analytics can work with the data and manage the other tasks required for the expansion. Studying data analytics and business administration also familiarizes students with data privacy regulatory developments around the world. This is necessary knowledge for leaders ensuring their businesses maintain compliance amidst disparate regulatory environments while expanding to new markets.
Managing a Forecasting Project
Forecasting is another area that demands good command of data analysis and overall business management practices. When tasked with making a forecast, managers need to understand the limitations of the data available to them and choose the best analysis methods for the given data set.
Considerations include the accuracy of the data, the forecast period and the time available to complete the forecast. However, in addition to the above data-analysis criteria, the manager in charge of the forecast also needs to understand factors such as the product’s life cycle and the cost-benefit (value) to the company.
Of course, modern software utilizing AI technologies like machine learning can automate a great deal of the processes involved in accurate forecasting, providing both predictive (what will likely happen) and prescriptive (what to do about it) analytics. Yet, from ensuring the analysis is bias-free to applying it to targeted decision-making, the effective use of insights such technologies can provide still requires business users with management and applied data analytics expertise.
HR and People Analytics
Another area in business management that overlaps data analysis and more traditional management training is human resources (HR) management. Good use of data analytics can help managers understand and quantify the problems employees are experiencing. For example, use of a problem-solving dashboard enables management to assess a situation, propose solutions and identify funding for those solutions.
In fact, analytics-driven software programs are now used to improve, streamline and partially automate many HR tasks, from hiring and recruiting to compensation package design and performance management. Much of these analytics-driven HR processes fall under the umbrella of “people analytics.”
Through an online MBA in Data Analytics, you can gain a solid foundation in business management along with the specialized skills required for today’s data-driven business environment.
Learn more about the University of Southern Indiana’s online MBA in Data Analytics program.
