Data is the new oil; with multiple sources popping up, it is available in abundance today. Every time a user shares or like a social media post, finishes a financial transaction, chats, or buys something online, a lot of relevant data about the user’s interest, belief, choice is generated. According to a Business Insider report, less than 0.5% of all data is analyzed and used.
We use data to make significant business decisions that may positively affect your company bottom line.
The massive availability of data in today’s time gave birth to various positions like data scientists, data analysts and business analysts.
In this article we will talk about the difference between business analyst and data analyst for more clarity.
But before we discuss the roles of business and data analysts, let us first understand both these branches.
- Data Analytics – It typically involves examining datasets to discover trends and insights that are eventually used to make key organizational decisions.
- Business Analytics – It is focused on analyzing different types of information to make practical, data-driven business decisions, and applying changes depending on those decisions. Typically, business analytics refer to insights produced by data analytics to spot issues and resolve them.
Now that we know the concept, let’s talk about the differences.
What is a Business Analyst?
Business analysts are usually responsible for using the data drawn by data analysts to make strategic business decisions. The role of a business analyst typically includes:
- Assessing business processes for cost, efficiency and other key metrics.
- Seamlessly communicating data insights to business teams and stakeholders.
- Drawing strategic recommendations and solutions based on the data for procedures, process adjustments and performance improvements.
What is a Data Analyst?
A data analyst is responsible for designing and maintaining data systems and databases, mining and cleaning data, analyzing data and preparing reports that clearly communicates the data insights to key stakeholders.
Difference between Business Analyst and Data Analyst
While both these roles work with data, the primary difference lies in how they utilize this data. While a business analyst uses this valuable data to make informed business decisions that directly impacts company’s returns, a data analyst mostly focuses on gathering, analyzing, cleaning and managing data and delivering the insight reports to business teams and key stakeholders.
Business analysts typically needs data science knowledge as well as skills related to communication, analytical thinking, negotiation, and management. While data analysts’ require Both these roles are in huge demand in the market due to the volume of data available today. Data science is the hottest issue for many businesses. A lot of them are aggressively hiring and creating a large data team to improve their businesses’ bottom line.