Business Analytics: Importance and Application in Decision Making

Running head: BUSINESS ANALYTICS
BUSINESS ANALYTICS
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1BUSINESS ANALYTICS
Introduction
With the increase and data and technology it has become increasingly important for any
business organization to employ proper tools in the domain of the business so as to ensure that
business on a whole performs considerably well in order to be able to gain a sustainable
advantage in the long term of the business enterprisei. Business Analytics has become quite
popular and many large business houses have been employing it into their daily business
functions to seek differentiation and ace the competition. The business analytics can be described
as the technologies, skills, practices and investigation used to analyze the past business
performance to gain the insight and understand the factors which were responsible for failure and
success. This contributes towards predicting the future performance of the business. The main
analysis is done using statistical methods and data. The article will discuss the increase in the
application of the business analytics in the domain of the business and discuss the ways in which
Analytics can be used for Effective business decision making process.
Analysis
Definition
Business Analytics can be stated as the study of the data with the help of statistical and
operational analysis. It is based on the formation of predictive models, application of the
different techniques of optimization and the communication of the results arrived at to the
different parties like business partners, customers and different college executivesii. Basically, it
can be stated that Business Analytics requires the primary use of Big Data.
Big Data

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Big Data can be described as a term which is used to define the large volume of data and
inundates the business on a regular basis. The data itself holds no relevance, if the analytics is
not performed on the data. Business Analytics and other relevant tools are popularly used to
analyze the Big Data which is available to make better decisions for the firm.
Use of Analytics in the Business
Analytics in business is primarily used for the purpose of growing the business and
seeing to it that the foresight of the business can be analyzed. Business involves high stakes and
thus it requires hard work and sustenanceiii. Business owners need to be largely aware of the fact
that how to identify the different customers and use relative data to find ways in which customers
may be served in a better manner. The ways in which analytics can be useful in a business have
been stated as follows:
Helps in Expansion
Analytics can be used to expand the business. When the organization has relative
information about the growing customer base and asset maintenance then they can be used
effectively to build a detailed business planiv.Analytics can be used effectively in this scenario to
help in finding the insights in visualizations and dashboards and then research further to help in
understanding the results of such expansion plans.
Identifying the correct target audience
It is crucial for the business to be well prepared and to be able to identify the correct
target audience which the firm will be able to serve appropriately. Thus, Business analytics can
be performed using social media analysis and customer internal data.

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Helps in creation of business plan
The real-time interaction with the data also assists in formation of the plans of the current
happening which then can be used with analytics to forecast the different trends in sales, growth
and turnover. Hence, creation of business plan becomes considerably easier.
Formation of marketing campaign
Marketing also forms an essential part of the organization and once the business has
attained adequate information about the local competitors and the audience then the different
campaigns can be made and designed accordingly as per the data which has been analyzed
effectively.
Application of Business Analytics
Banks like Capital one often make use of data analytics to differentiate among different
types of customers which is largely based on credit risk and also differentiate them on the basis
of usage and characteristic as well. The Harrah`s which is a gaming firm also makes use of
analytics for the customer loyalty programsv. A telecom company also uses efficient analytics in
order pursue efficient call center usage for customer service.
Use of analytics for smarter decision making
Businesses can largely benefit from becoming more analytical across the different
spheres and understanding its operations, customers and processes more efficiently while making
the different decisions. The analytical efforts of the business need to be well targeted in order to
ensure that it performs well. It is important for the business enterprises to make a differentiation
in the market in order to be able to attain competitive advantage.