Business Analysis
Business Analysis
Business involves lot of data and facts to be processed that forms the basis of a sound decision making. This involves analytical method to solve any kind of problem arising in a business. Analytical method is a standard process that combines the power of scientific method with utilization of formal process of problem solving. Business analytics is a much specific process and is defined as the practice of methodical and iterative exploration of data and facts of an organization with prominence on statistical study (Trkman 2010). This forms the basis of data driven decision making.
Data and Techniques
Some of the data and techniques that might be used are data to find new relationship patterns (data mining technique), data that explains why particular results occur (quantitative analysis and statistical analysis), data experimentation to test previous inferences (Multivariate testing techniques and A/B testing) and data testing to forecast future results (predictive analytics and predictive modeling) (Trkman 2010).
Benefits of Business Analytics
Business analytical tools save time and efforts by automating collection and aggregation of data, by automation of report generation, by reducing the requirement of training for development and maintenance of reports and by offering innovative report designing tools making the report programming simpler. These tools also reduce the information bottleneck, make the data actionable for better and faster decisions. It makes the organization responsible for threats external to the organization (Trkman 2010).
Limitations
There is a huge amount of market and customer volatility. Customers today are less brand loyal and more price sensitive. Data mining taking longer time to conclude miss out the trends that prevails in market (Trkman 2010). Also, there is a growing variety and volume of data that needs to be securely managed. Aggregation of large volume of data invite errors jeopardizing regulatory compliance and corporate security (Trkman 2010).
Reference
Trkman, Peter, et al. "The impact of business analytics on supply chain performance." Decision Support Systems 49.3 (2010): 318-327.
