Business has changed dramatically over the past 20 years.
It’s changed even more in the last three years. Artificial intelligence integrations are interfacing with virtually every digital tool business touches. Simply put, today’s students are going to learn a very different set of business skills than people who graduated at the turn of the century.
If you want to succeed in a world of big data and AI, you need to prepare a set of skills that allows you to use these tools at the table.
What degrees will get you there? This article will answer that question.
Augmented Analytics
Augmented Analytics occurs when people use automation to process data and derive insights. What degrees will prepare you to use Augmented Analytics? The answer is fairly wide-reaching. Most business degrees will at least touch on aspects of AI-powered data management. This includes everything from traditional business management degrees to training programs designed with marketing or advertising in mind.
In a world of software, virtually every business position—from HR to CX to Sales—uses some form of data. Modern programs ensure that all graduates understand how to get the numbers they need to succeed.
What Is the Difference Between a BBA and a BS?
In college, you’ll have many options to take your business education. One of the core questions many business school applicants ask: BBA vs. BS degrees—what’s the difference?
A BBA is a business education that precedes the MBA. This is the sort of degree you can experience in learning how to assume a leadership position within an established organization. In this educational pathway, you’ll learn about management skills, which can certainly involve data analysis but will more specifically focus on operations, delegation, and big-picture planning.
BS degrees, or Bachelor of Science programs, are focused on the more technical aspects of business. Typically, students in a BS program will also work with data, but at a more granular level. They might understand not only what the numbers mean, but how they are derived—this in the context of algorithms, data sets, and computation models.
Many big businesses will have roles available for people with both types of knowledge. The question is how you want to use data. Is it a tool, or is it at the very center of how you want to spend your professional time?
Which Degree Is Easier to Get?
The words degree and easy have, at best, a tenuous relationship. The question is not which credential is easier, but which one will be easier to commit to. If you have a passion for working with numbers, you’ll probably have an easier time following through with a BS program, regardless of its overall complexity.
On the other hand, if you’re more interested in the strategic, creative, and interpersonal aspects of business, you’re going to do your best work in a BBA program—even if you also appreciate the value of analytics.
Objectively speaking, many people find the concepts that are covered in BS programs more complicated, but it’s an extremely subjective experience.
Which Career Path Generates the Higher Income?
Again, that is a question for which an objective answer is harder to land. BBAs tend to have a higher potential career trajectory depending on how well you do in your roles. You could go all the way to the top of an organization with administrative skills.
On the other hand, a BS has a lower ceiling but a higher initial salary. Ultimately, it depends on what your ambitions are. Are you looking for a role you could nest in and get comfortable with? If so, you’ll probably do better financially in the world of BS, where salaries might be capped but are steady and appealing.
On the other hand, if you want to climb the corporate ladder, you’ll find a more welcoming world in the BBA sphere—where you might start out with a very modest income but get the opportunity to increase your salary considerably, provided you have what it takes.
How Concerned Do You Need to Be with Data?
It’s going to come across your radar whether you ask for it or not. That doesn’t mean that every modern business professional should wear the hat of a data scientist. It does mean you should engage willingly with new business technologies as they arise. You can’t fight City Hall, and you can’t slow the wheels of progress. Data is here. AI is here. And while that fact frustrates many business people who are attracted to their careers for much different reasons, it’s also a chocolate-and-peanut-butter kind of combination—one to supply the other.
To maximize your opportunities and your earning potential, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with data and the tools you use to interpret it. That doesn’t mean you need to strive for mastery. It does probably mean that you need to develop a willingness to continue your education.
