Leveraging business analytics for strategic decision-making

The rise of big data has transformed the world of business. Faced with this flood of information, any would-be business leader needs to master sophisticated analytical skills. These abilities can help you navigate uncertainty, identify new opportunities and drive success for your organization.

Marquette University's online MBA program can help you develop the business analytics skills for decision-making you'll need to make a meaningful impact in your organization. Not only will you have the opportunity to engage with a cutting-edge curriculum, but you'll also get hands-on experience through rigorous projects and industry partnerships.

Read on to learn about the essentials of business analytics and the key technologies you may encounter as you progress through your education and business career.

What is business analytics?

Business analytics and decision-making combine to turn data into action that can drive powerful results for your organization. There are three main varieties of analytics, which work in tandem to help you make the best choices for your organization's success.

Descriptive analytics can support your understanding of how your business has operated by examining past trends. Predictive analytics can help you forecast future outcomes using statistical models, machine learning algorithms and trend analysis. Finally, prescriptive analytics can generate specific recommendations through the evaluation of multiple scenarios and constraints.

The tools that facilitate analytics for business decision-making include SQL databases that let users manipulate large data sets, as well as the Python and R programming languages, which are especially useful for advanced statistical analysis and machine learning. Data visualization software, such as Tableau and Power BI, also plays a key role in business analytics. These tools can help you synthesize complex data patterns and share insights across your organization.

Technology and platforms used

Modern business intelligence suites have made it significantly easier to make data-driven business decisions. For example, Tableau has an intuitive drag-and-drop feature that makes it easy to create visualizations and interactive dashboards. Microsoft Power BI works seamlessly with existing Office tools, and Looker specializes in self-service analytics that enable non-technical team members to work with data independently.

Cloud ecosystems give you the infrastructure you need for enterprise-scale analytics projects. Amazon Web Services offers comprehensive data warehousing through Redshift and machine learning services through SageMaker, while Microsoft Azure comes with artificial intelligence applications and integrated analytics through Synapse. Google Cloud BigQuery delivers serverless data warehousing with built-in machine learning capabilities that scale automatically based on your needs.

It's also important for members of an analytics team to pool their work and talk regularly, and there are platforms to help with that as well. Slack and Miro, for example, support efficient communication, and GitHub lets you analyze code, communicate and learn collaboratively.

Why business analytics matters for strategic decisions

Business analytics can help inform strategic decision-making by providing the data you need to make informed choices, allowing you to find new opportunities before the competition. It can also help you optimize prices and build flexible supply chains based on real-time data.¹

Additionally, utilizing business analytics can make it easier to decide when to enter a new market. That's because you'll be equipped with the information you need about topics such as customer segmentation, buying habits across demographic groups and what your competition looks like.

Online MBA curriculum highlights

Marquette's online MBA curriculum will give you the training you need in business analytics and decision-making to enhance your organization's overall efficiency and profitability. Through MBA course work, you'll learn business analytics fundamentals, such as statistical methods, data visualization techniques and analytical software proficiency. You'll engage in authentic assignments and projects to learn how to tackle common problems for businesses systematically and effectively.

The curriculum also emphasizes decision-making frameworks that integrate analytical and leadership skills. You'll learn how to communicate technical findings to key stakeholders and how to share your vision with your colleagues clearly.

Integrating analytics with leadership skills

Integrating analytics for business decision-making with leadership skills requires that you learn how to master storytelling techniques for upper management. This includes giving effective presentations—likely using tools such as charts, infographics and interactive dashboards—and supporting recommendations with evidence, showing how what you think should be done has worked in the past.

Mastering change management tactics that can help you plan strategically for the future while maintaining standards in line with industry best practices will also help your business succeed. Keeping your organization's culture and goals in mind will help you decide what changes need to be made and how to implement them.

Good leadership includes strong ethics, especially as the impact of big data and its analysis grows. Ensuring data privacy, working to eliminate bias and considering your organization's environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts will foster trust in your business and your leadership.

Career outcomes and salary uplift

As an MBA graduate with analytics skills, you'll have the opportunity to pursue a variety of diverse leadership roles, many of which can come with impressive salaries.

For example, as a strategy consultant, you could earn between $111,000 and $207,000 per year.² In this role, you'll help businesses implement data-driven initiatives to enhance operational and organizational efficiency. Becoming a product manager is another common career outcome for MBA grads with analytics skills. In such a role, you could earn an average salary of $123,000 annually.³ You could also become an analytical lead; this role comes with an average salary of $101,000 per year.⁴ As your career progresses, you could eventually become a CFO. CFO roles are particularly high-paying, with an average annual salary of $262,000.⁵

Regardless of the career path you choose, earning an MBA—especially one with an analytics focus—can result in a significant salary boost. MBA graduates with a concentration in analytics can earn about 25-30% more than those with traditional MBAs.⁶

Succeed in modern business with Marquette's online MBA program

The integration of business analytics for decision-making with strategic leadership skills helps to set you up for executive and organizational success in today's data-driven economy. Marquette University's online MBA program, which offers a specialization in Business and Managerial Analytics, will give you the analytical and leadership skills you need to evaluate dynamic business environments, learn from big data and promote growth in your organization.

If you are ready to take the next step in your business analytics journey, contact us or connect with an admissions outreach advisor today to learn more about our admissions process and online MBA application.