In business, there’s a saying: the riches are in the niches. In other words, if you can get really, really good at a specific thing, you’ll always have not only work, but lucrative work.
Business insights, data analysis, and interpretation, and strategic concepts development are skills that any corporation needs and is especially interested in acquiring in our increasingly digital times. How do you prepare for a career in analytics? It will require not only a degree (or three) but a compelling combination of soft and hard skills that will qualify you to not only understand data management but also help companies implement it at the highest possible level.
In this article, we explore which degree paths will help get you there.
Overview
It’s important to understand that there is not a single path towards a career that is focused on business insights, data interpretation, and business strategy management. There are dependable courses of study that will help you get there, followed by fairly linear job tracks.
For example, let’s say you go the entire college circuit. You get a bachelor’s degree in data interpretation, followed up by an MBA related to analytics. You even go so far as to get a PhD in business intelligence.
From there, you can expect a fairly straightforward and more than likely accelerated track to a high position. Your career would most likely begin in a data analyst role.
From there, you could seek a promotion into a senior business intelligence position, then to a business intelligence director. Or you could go from being a data scientist to a director of business intelligence, and so on.
There are a lot of career paths that are available to people who know not only how to interpret business data, but also how to leverage it into leadership decisions that genuinely move the needle.
Most of these jobs start with entry-level, data-related positions and go on from there.
What Does a Director of Business Intelligence Do?
A director of business intelligence will most likely spend a lot of time working with numbers. This will involve direct actions like reviewing figures, drawing insights, and facilitating next steps.
It will also involve data management components. We live now in an era where every department within a company is producing data constantly. They won’t all necessarily be working with data scientists to draw conclusions from those numbers.
The director of business intelligence may instead develop systems, processes, standards, benchmarks, and so on that allow each department to better interpret and leverage its own insights.
What Skills Are Required for Business Intelligence Positions?
To be a business leader, even when dealing with intelligence, you’ll need a strong set of both technical and soft skills. This may sound simple enough on the surface, but being really good with numbers doesn’t necessarily mean you’re great at managing people by default.
Companies are going to look for professionals who can not only analyze, interpret, and utilize data, but they are going to want to find people who can work well with different departments to ensure that goals are being met and standards are being kept.
This will involve strong communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and a willingness to take a leadership position during times of change.
How Strong Is the Business Intelligence Job Market?
Business intelligence job prospects are strong! Companies all over the world are actively looking for professionals who can help them manage their data.
The projected growth rate for jobs in this category is around 10% over the next decade.
More to the point, companies are willing to pay well for people who can offer what they’re looking for. Salary expectations for business intelligence professionals, according to sites like ZipRecruiter, hover at around $150,000 a year.
Obviously, actual numbers will vary pretty widely based on the position itself, as well as your work experience and degree history. But it is fair to say that the numbers are competitive, and so are the positions themselves.
This is the sort of job category where you can get your foot in the door with some sort of data science bachelor’s degree, but you’ll really need to consider graduate studies and even possibly a PhD if you want to take your career as far as it can possibly go.
Are Business Intelligence Jobs Competitive?
They definitely are competitive in a few different ways. For one thing, you need to understand that top-tier leadership positions are somewhat few and far between.
The thing is, there are a decent number of entry-level positions, but as with any leadership role in business, the number of available positions is usually fewer than the number of qualified applicants, the higher up the chain you get.
If you are interested in a true leadership role, it’s going to help enormously to get a graduate or even a PhD degree. Even in that case, you may need to be willing to constantly look for higher roles, even if that means regularly looking at job listings at other companies.
You might also need to keep an open mind about relocating. Bottom line, you will find work if you are skilled at interpreting data. However, finding your ideal job is going to require time, tenacity, and maybe even a bit of luck.
Is It Right for You?
If you have a genuine interest in working with data, being strategic, and serving as a business leader, this is a very compelling position to consider. Not only is the corresponding salary impressive, but the work itself is in high demand and highly interesting.
If you want a job that is dynamic and full of opportunity, you could do a lot worse than a career in business intelligence.
