Business success today requires leaders with far more skills, knowledge and experience than it did just a generation ago. The competitive playing field has grown because the internet and easy access to rapid shipping channels have made it easy for a supplier 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 rapid growth of computing power along with prodigious data generation puts more demands on company executives charged with making decisions.
The business community has valued the MBA degree for many years, and many leaders are discovering that an online Master of Business Administration in data analytics is even more useful and valuable in today’s business world.
Delivering the Skills for Advancement
Put simply, an online MBA in data analytics adds specialized knowledge to a high-level business education. Knowing how to properly analyze data and set up data acquisition programs is often the key to a company’s success and crucial to survival in the Information Age. These MBAs also know how to communicate the information for effective decision-making, which is just as critical.
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.
An MBA in data analytics prepares you to make these analyses. 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.
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.
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 time 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.
Another area in business management that overlaps data analysis and more traditional management training is human resources. 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.
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 — Data Analytics program.
Sources:
Forbes: 10 Key Steps to Expanding Your Business Globally
Harvard Business Review: How to Choose the Right Forecasting Technique
Los Angeles Times: Taking a statistical approach to managing human resources
