Business Intelligence Analyst

If your company were human, it would no doubt have a body. Its CEO would be its eyes, for instance, its employees would be its hands, and its investors its legs. The business intelligence analysts are its brain. Like a real-life cerebrum, a business intelligence analyst collects and processes information, then translates it into decision making that’s designed to help the body — or company — survive. Although it sounds like a Discovery Channel program, it’s more like a Wall Street Journal article, as your job as business intelligence analyst is studying your company the way a stock broker studies the market: You collect data, you look for trends, and you recommend action based on projections for the future. You see, most companies collect oodles of data every day in the course of doing business. The data, including information about inventory, sales, customers, etc., is stored electronically, where it sits untouched until someone — i.e., you — analyzes and interprets it. “Analyzing” and “interpreting,” therefore, is exactly how you spend your days. The data’s already there; you’re paid to go fishing for it, then submit your catch to management in the form of reports that are produced using special software designed to help you find and summarize historical, current, and predictive data. By spotting trends in stored data, you help your company achieve its financial and operational objectives, as managers can use your findings to tweak sales strategies, marketing plans, supply chain operations, customer service policies and more. Because knowledge is power, that makes you not only your company’s brain, but also its brawn.