Introduction
Businesses in the present time are faced with numerous problems that range from competition with their counterparts to providing the right orientation to their marketing strategies. The list is actually endless because business has now become an art of intelligence. Businesses in the present time make use of technologies like big data analytics, the internet of things, and data analytics. In simple terms, the dynamics of business have witnessed a great transformation over a period of time. The application of business analytics has constantly grown in a large number of sectors. Consequently, the need for business analysts has also increased.
Needless to mention, there has been a mismatch between the number of business analysts available and those required by the companies. It is in this context that a large number of business analytics courses are being prioritized and business analysis certification in India is becoming immensely popular as it provides a great option for diversifying one's career prospects.
An overview of business analytics
Before looking at different applications of business analytics, it is important to understand what business analytics is all about. Business analytics is a process that makes use of various types of statistical models and quantitative methodologies to give critical insights to a business which can then be used for important business decisions. Business analytics not only powers business intelligence but also boosts business productivity and enhances business efficiency in the long run. It also has direct implications on the revenue of a business and even diversifies other business prospects.
Unique applications of business analytics
There are numerous applications of business analytics.
- The most important and unique application of business analytics is its usage by companies that are into financial services. Such companies analyze the transaction history of the customers as well as their spending habits. This data also allows them to directly or indirectly understand the lifestyle preferences of customers. Depending upon this data, they also get access to the behavior trends of customers and other information which can be sold to third parties.
- Needless to mention, financial service companies like those in the business of insurance or other similar categories possess a treasure of very important information about customers. Multinational companies as well as other commercial and technological giants are dependent upon this critical information for driving their business.
- Another important application of business analytics is that it helps in customer engagement and customer management. It is possible to manage a group of customers who share similar interests and subscribe to a particular plan on a common platform. It is also highly likely that we segregate customers depending on their preferences with the help of business analytics. In this case, the customers that are interested in a particular product or service can be categorized into a common category and then can be targeted with a unique marketing email.
- We can also draft a common business strategy for managing this particular group of customers. Another important measure that can be taken for enhancing customer relationships and optimizing management is the assignment of a particular team to a particular group of customers depending on business strategies and financial outcomes.
- In addition to this, we can also manage different types of budgeting services with the help of business analytics. Financial planning is also a critical part of business analytics. Prediction of customer preferences, forecasting their future shopping patterns on the basis of previous history as well as portfolio management are also important applications of business intelligence.
- The human resource department is one of the most critical assets for the successful functioning of other departments. The management of various functions of the human resource department is a critical component of business analytics. To find out the ideal candidate and matching the experience of that candidate with the requirements of a particular profile is not an easy task.
- A large number of businesses have automated this process and filters are applied to make an automated selection of candidates we can then be interviewed to make an appropriate selection. The automation of various functions of the human resource department has enabled businesses to visualize the previous performance of employees and also forecast the value that they can bring to future projects. This is not only critical for catalyzing the growth process of a company but also important for streamlining the work carried out in different departments.
The bottom line
Other important applications of business analytics that are unique include predictive maintenance and fraud detection. These are important for maintaining the security architecture of a business so that other operations function as smoothly as possible.
