MS in Business intelligence and analytics, for most of the businesses today, data is their most valuable asset.
With an estimated shortage of 1.5 million big data experts in 2018, many companies are already struggling to manage and use their data effectively.
Data specialists with an understanding of business are already in high demand and are increasingly playing transformational role for their employers.
So are you someone interested in building a career as a data specialist?
Two popular choices that you have are -
- MS in Business Intelligence, and
- MS in Business Analytics
But how will you figure out which one is the right-fit for you?
Which one will fit best with your background and interests and ensure a long-term successful career?
On the surface, both the programs – MS in Business Intelligence and the MS in Business Analytics – are designed to help you transform raw data into actionable business insights.
But both the programs take slightly different approaches to achieve their business objections.
Let’s look at some of the key differences between these two master’s degrees -
What is MS in Business Intelligence?
Do you want to help businesses make better use of data?
Pursuing an MS in Business Intelligence could be a great option for you.
You will get in-depth knowledge of technologies such as Tableau to help non-technical stakeholders – both inside and outside the company – understand and act on complex business data.
You will become familiar with various reporting, dashboards and analytics tools and softwares to understand how those could be integrated with enterprise system, how those could be used to interpret and understand large-scale data, and how to communicate the same to all the stakeholders involved.
The courses that you would enroll to would focus on data mining, storage and management.
You may also chose to specialize in technology integration, database and data modeling by taking additional course.
What is MS in Business Analytics?
Do you want to use sophisticated data analysis and mathematical modeling to transform raw data into meaningful business insight?
Pursuing an MS in Business Analyticss could be a great option for you.
You would learn to become skilled in applying data in a business environment.
You will develop advanced analytical and optimization skills, along with the appropriate business knowledge and communication skills, necessary to solve complex business problems.
You will learn Machine Learning techniques related to structured and unstructured datasets with an emphasis on their business application.
Additionally, you will get a comprehensive foundation of statistical analysis, programming, mathematical modeling, and communication skills.
You will work on a wide variety of business problems, such as
- predict how customers may respond to a new product or a new service,
- apply machine learning algorithms to different business cases,
- optimize the network structure of a supply chain to find inefficiency, or
- advise on what action to take once a trend has been found in the data.