What Is a Business Intelligence Analyst? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.

Business intelligence analysts combine data analysis, IT and business expertise to help companies make informed decisions that facilitate future growth. Here’s what to know about a business intelligence analyst’s needed skills, salary and how to become one.

What Is a Business Intelligence Analyst?

A business intelligence analyst is responsible for mining large data sets and creating data visualizations to inform business decisions. Successful business intelligence analysts guide a variety of organizations to help them grow sustainably.

What Do Business Intelligence Analysts Do?

The main objective of a business intelligence analyst is to break down key business data from sources like sales, the market, competitors, customer engagement and productivity in order to identify patterns and present findings to company stakeholders.

Business Intelligence Analyst Responsibilities

Business Intelligence Analyst Within a Company

Business intelligence analysts are typically individual contributors and part of the data analytics team. They may report to a business intelligence manager or the business intelligence architect, depending on the structure of the company.

Importance of Business Intelligence Analysts

Organizations that want to make data-driven decisions rely on business intelligence analysts to provide the necessary insight and data analytics to help them achieve this. BI analysts help organizations grow at a healthy pace by providing data that guides hiring, product release and sales goal decisions.

A day in the life of a business intelligence analyst. | Video: CareerOneStop

What Skills Are Needed to Be a Business Intelligence Analyst?

Qualifications to Be a Business Intelligence Analyst

Business Intelligence Analyst Prerequisites

Business Intelligence Analyst Hard Skills

Business Intelligence Analyst Soft Skills

Tools and Programs Business Intelligence Analyst Use

Find out who's hiring in Austin . See all Data + Analytics jobs in Austin View 197 Jobs

How to Become a Business Intelligence Analyst

Business Intelligence Analyst Education and Experience

Business intelligence analysts typically have a bachelor’s degree in data science, mathematics, business intelligence or a related field. Getting a master’s degree in a specialized field may also help someone refine their analytical skills for a specific industry.

Business Intelligence Analyst Certificates and Courses

Business Intelligence Analyst Career Path

Business intelligence analysts may start their careers as data analysts or business analysts. Positions that business intelligence analysts commonly advance into include business intelligence manager, business intelligence developer or senior business analyst.

Business Intelligence Analyst Salary and Job Outlook

Business intelligence analysts can expect healthy job growth over the next several years. Management analysis, a related field, is projected to grow at 11 percent through 2031.

The full compensation package for a business intelligence analyst depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average business intelligence analyst’s salary.

Expand Your Business Intelligence Analyst Career Opportunities

Udemy’s data science courses can provide you with the skills you need to land your dream job.

workers has been rising exponentially in the last couple of decades and believe it or not, there's a shortage. Companies are recruiting heavily and upskilling those they can. This is where you come in.

How important is database management in the age of big data and analytics?

It is really important.

How many employers would be happy to hire employees who can use data for the purposes of…

This course introduces Microsoft Excel's powerful data modeling and business intelligence tools: Power Query, Power Pivot, and Data…

Welcome to the #1 best-selling Power BI Desktop course – completely rebuilt for 2023!

If you’re a data professional or aspiring analyst looking to learn the top business intelligence platform on…

Certifications

Business Intelligence Analyst Certifications + Programs

Give your resume a boost by earning an in-demand data science certification from Udacity.

Whether you have coded before or are brand new to the world of programming, this course will put you on the fast track to building confidence with this intuitive, object- oriented language. Learn programming fundamentals and build a custom application. Graduate with the ability to start applying Python within high-growth fields like analytics, data science, and web development.

What you'll accomplish

This is a beginner-friendly program with no prerequisites, although some students may have coded previously. First-time programmers will have access to pre-course preparatory lessons and additional resources to boost their confidence with key concepts and set up their development environments. Throughout this expert-designed program, you’ll:

Why General Assembly

Since 2011, General Assembly has graduated more than 40,000 students worldwide from the full time & part time courses. During the 2020 hiring shutdown, GA's students, instructors, and career coaches never lost focus, and the KPMG-validated numbers in their Outcomes report reflect it. *For students who graduated in 2020 — the peak of the pandemic — 74.4% of those who participated in GA's full-time Career Services program landed jobs within six months of graduation. General Assembly is proud of their grads + teams' relentless dedication and to see those numbers rising. Download the report here .

Your next step? Submit an application to talk to the General Assembly Admissions team