I’m not usually one to wear my heart on my sleeve when writing articles, but this topic hits home for many of us in the business field. So, bear with me if I occasionally get too personal on this. By the way, this is your official warning for an overload of business jargon, tech buzzwords, and the not-too-occasional dad jokes. Let’s dive into these characters, strings, and bytes of somewhat (hopefully not) useless data, shall we?
As business students, we have a love-hate relationship with technical terms and jargon. Sometimes we throw around fancy words to sound smart, and maybe even scam people (just kidding, we create value, not scams). Sometimes we do it just to feel like we’re part of something exclusive. But here’s the thing: those buzzwords actually mean something in the world of data analytics. And more importantly, they can lead to real, tangible business results.
Buzzword or Backbone?
We now live in a world where every wannabe gearhead or techie is constantly preaching about the prospects of AI, ML, DL, and whatnot. Gartner’s Hype Cycle for emerging technologies identifies these terms under the “peak of inflated expectation.” Essentially, these terms, with all their prestigious connotations, are used to add a sparkle of gold dust to even the most mediocre of products to sell them.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Great, another tech trend I need to keep up with. Wasn’t mastering Excel pivot tables enough?” Trust me, I feel your pain. But stick with me here, because data analytics isn’t just another techy fad – it’s the future of business, and in some cases, it’s the predictor of the curve that we always wanted to stay ahead of.
Data, Data Everywhere, Not a Byte to Eat:
As data analytics takes the grand stage and becomes the backbone for insights for many businesses, we have to ask: “Why the sudden explosion of this topic?”
Well, according to explodingtopics.com (not a pun), around 2.5 quintillion bytes worth of data are generated each day, 70% of which is user-generated. In fact, we create data at such an alarming rate that we’ve had to invent new words like zettabyte to measure it. There are currently over 44 zettabytes of data in the entire digital universe. Modern businesses are drowning in information, in what is called Big Data – and trust me, it’s not just a clever name.
Imagine every customer interaction, every social media post, every product review, and every financial transaction being recorded and stored. Now multiply that by millions of customers across thousands of businesses. That’s the scale we’re talking about here. It’s like trying to drink from a fire hose of information – overwhelming, and likely to leave you feeling damp and disoriented.
However, hidden within this massive amount of data are insights that could transform how businesses operate. Without the right skills, though, the data is just noise. This is where data analysts come in — like skilled miners extracting precious gems from tons of rock, they sift through big data to uncover the insights that drive business success.
Am I Relevant Here (Data Analytics)?
When I started my university journey as a business student, I envisioned corner offices, power suits, and maybe even a The Big Short moment or two (minus the economic crisis, of course). If you are one too, I’m sure you never imagined coding to be part of it (though my coursework disagrees).
I can almost hear you thinking, “But I’m a business major, not a computer science whiz! I chose this path to avoid dealing with complex algorithms and coding!” Fear not, my spreadsheet-loving friend, this is where our business background gives us a unique advantage.
You see, while our friends over in the computer science department can crunch numbers faster than we can say “ROI,” they often lack the business context to make those numbers meaningful. That’s where we have an edge. We understand the language of business – the strategies, the market forces, and the customer behaviors. If we can combine that with some solid data analytics skills, then we can generate valuable insights, make decisions faster and more accurately, and continually create value.
Imagine this: data scientists can tell you that Aarong sales spike every Thursday at 3 PM. But as business students, we can hypothesize why that’s happening and how to capitalize on it. Maybe it’s payday for a large local employer, or it’s when people are most likely to succumb to the post-lunch shopping urge before the weekend. So, you can create a sense of urgency during that time by promoting a happy hour special deal to increase conversion to sales. That’s the kind of insight that turns data into dollars.
The Data-Driven Revolution
If you go through any business book, you’ll find cases of once-major corporations like Nokia and Kodak, which are now struggling. One of the reasons for their stagnation and dissolution was not treating data as a key business asset, leading to their inability to adapt to market trends and consumer preferences.
In the same book, you will find cases of companies that have revolutionized their industries using insights from “Big Data” and redefining their entire business operation.
Walmart: Stocking Insights
When we think about Walmart, the retail giant that sells almost everything, what comes to mind is the EDLP (Everyday Low Pricing) strategy. But these strategies don’t come from reading business books; rather, Walmart sources these insights from its spending of nearly $10 billion on data analytics and AI-based technologies, using them to optimize everything from supply chain management to personalized marketing.
Picture this: You’re a Walmart manager in Louisiana, USA, and you’ve just heard that a hurricane is heading your way, which is not that unexpected as Louisiana is one of the Gulf Coast states that are susceptible to hurricanes.
But Walmart’s data analysts discovered something interesting – before and after hurricanes, people buy a lot of… wait for it… strawberry Pop-Tarts. I’m not kidding! With data analytics, it’s like you are not just stocking people’s weird hurricane cravings, but actionable strategies and insights as well!
Netflix: Behind the Scenes
Now, let’s switch gears and talk about something we all love – binge-watching TV shows until 4 AM on a school or work night. Netflix is the reason I have been regarded as “The King of Procrastination” by a few of my colleagues in my appraisal.
Netflix analyzes everything – what you watch, when you watch it, how long you watch, when you pause, when you rewind (hello, shirtless scene in that rom-com). They even analyze the colors of the thumbnails you click on. All this data helps them decide what shows to produce, how to market them, and even what thumbnail to show you to make you click.
Amazon: The Mind Reader
Speaking of mind-reading, let’s talk about the company that probably knows more about our shopping habits than anyone – Amazon. These guys have turned data analytics into an art form. They’re not just using data to figure out what we want to buy – they’re using it to predict what we’ll want to buy before we even know we want it.
There are really cool but somewhat concerning stories like when Target knew about the pregnancy of a girl before her father from her buying behavior and suggested new products to her accordingly. Based on historical data, Target developed a pregnancy prediction score for each female customer based on the purchasing patterns of 25 product categories.
But it’s not just retail and entertainment that are riding the data analytics wave; every industry is somehow utilizing this for their benefit.
Now, if we look on an even smaller but similar scale, business roles, and traditional corporate roles are increasingly being automated (sorry, entry-level analysts, the robots are coming for your Excel sheets). So to stay relevant and thrive in this data-driven world, data analytics offers a promising growth sector that desperately needs our business insights and acumen. Data analysis as a business student lets you speak both the language of business and the language of data I like being bilingual in a world where everyone else is struggling to communicate.
A Psychological Growth Factor:
Data analytics doesn’t attract every business major equally. There are specific demographics that transverse into this sector. To understand the underlying cause of this urge to advance to data science, we must dive deep into the temperament of people who pursue business majors in Bangladesh. In the realm of business education, I personally have seen two distinct personas that have emerged when it comes to pursuing data analytics. I feel it makes more sense to describe these personas as the Confused Explorer and the Business-Tech Synthesizer. Let’s break these down, shall we?
The Confused Explorer:
In our country, there are students who pursue a business degree, taking only the prompt and pay of the corporate world into account. This is the business student who chose their major with a mix of pragmatism and indecision. They might have been torn between engineering and business, ultimately opting for the latter due to perceived job prospects or parental pressure. As they progress through their business courses, they start to feel a sense of inadequacy – like all of their knowledge being generalized and fear missing out on the technical and specialized skills. These are the students who might find themselves Googling “How to learn Python at 2 AM” or sneaking into computer science lectures.
These lost souls, out of frustration towards their discipline and course outlines, might go on developing vindication towards the entire business concentration. A solution could’ve been a mixture of technical and business courses via an open credit system. Sadly, in our country, we have very few universities that provide an open credit curriculum; moreover, no university allows the blend of technical and business courses that are needed to make a data-savvy business grad.
For the Confused Explorer, data analytics offers a lifeline – a way to combine their business foundation with the technical skills they crave. However, this path isn’t without its challenges. By diverging from the traditional business curriculum to focus on data skills, these students might miss out on some of the networking opportunities that are very crucial in the business world. It’s a trade-off that requires careful consideration.
The Business-Tech Synthesizer:
On the other hand, we have students who are genuinely passionate about business concepts but have a secret (or not-so-secret) love affair with technology. These are the folks who get excited about both marketing strategies and machine learning algorithms. These rising business majors have a fondness for tech, but a lack of technically advanced courses in their BBA or MBA curriculum impedes their succession into the tech industry. For them, data analytics is the perfect way to marry their business acumen with their tech aspirations.
For The Business-Tech Synthesizer, pursuing data analyticsskills is less about filling a perceived gap in their education and more about enhancing their existing business knowledge. They recognize that in today’s data-driven business landscape, the ability to extract insights from data is as crucial as understanding financial statements or crafting marketing campaigns.
The beauty of data analytics is that it offers a path forward for both these personas. Whether you’re a Confused Explorer looking to find your niche or a Business-Tech Synthesizer aiming to supercharge your business skills, data analytics provides a way to stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.
The Job Market: How Data Analysts Fit Everywhere
It doesn’t matter if it is a Business Intelligence Analyst, Financial Analyst, HR Analytics Manager, Customer Experience Analyst, Data-Driven Marketing Manager, or even Supply Chain Optimization Specialist, they all mean the same thing — you are a Data Analyst in some way.
However, some of you still might need some more convincing and a breakdown of how data analytics roles relate to your major or concentration (e.g., Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Supply Chain Operations, etc.). So, now I will be covering the aspects of the job market of various majors.
Marketing Mavens at Zara
It was not many days ago when marketing was all about catchy slogans and gut feelings. Well, Zara is here to tell you those days are as outdated as last season’s fashion trends. Data analytics and marketing knowledge have helped Zara bring about the Fast Fashion Revolution. This fast-fashion giant has turned shopping into a data-driven science, and they’re always looking for business graduates who can speak both ‘fashion’ and ‘data’.
At Zara, data-savvy marketers are the new trendsetters. They’re analyzing real-time sales data, social media chatter, and even weather patterns to predict what customers will want to wear next season. Your typical day might involve diving into customer segmentation data, presenting trend forecasts to the design team, and fine-tuning a machine-learning model that predicts the next hot fashion item. The best part of it is that you’re not just crunching numbers; you’re shaping the future of fast fashion.
Finance Bros at JP Morgan
With technological advancement on full throttle, many traditional finance roles will be automated to make way for more and more data-related jobs. If you always thought finance was all about spreadsheets and stuffy suits, think again. JP Morgan is leading the charge in turning financial services into a data-backed field.
They’ve developed something called Contract Intelligence (COIN), which uses machine learning to interpret commercial loan agreements. What used to take lawyers and loan officers 247,365 hours now takes mere seconds. However, that requires a lot of data processing in the background.
As a finance bro, data has always been your companion, and now you could be the one analyzing data and translating these machine learning insights into business strategies. You might find yourself working on fraud detection algorithms one day and optimizing trading strategies the next. The opportunities are endless, especially in finance. Your ability to translate complex data into actionable financial insights makes you an invaluable asset.
Supply Chain Sorcerers at Walmart
You already know that Walmart and Amazon have completely rewritten how supply chain management works, and they’re always looking for data analysts with business knowledge who can keep the shelves future-proof.
At Walmart, data analytics is king. They’re using it to predict everything. You might be the guy using Python to build a model that predicts demand spikes during extreme weather events, then collaborating with the logistics team to optimize warehouse layouts. You’ll not just be managing a supply chain; you’ll be orchestrating a data-driven symphony of efficiency.
Techie in HR at Google
It is clear that no one thought this part was going to be a part of this article. But I’m here telling you even Human Resources is getting a data-driven makeover, and who better to lead the charge than tech giant Google? Their People Analytics team is revolutionizing everything from recruitment to retention using gHire, Google’s HR Dashboard, People Analytics, etc.
As an unorthodox tech guy in HR at Google, you might find yourself building machine learning algorithms to identify the best candidates or predict which employees are at risk of leaving. The main problem with management theories is that most of them are non-quantifiable, which changes with data analytics as Google analyzes performance data to ensure fair evaluations and implements strategies for keeping top talent happy. You’re not just handling HR tasks; you’re strategically shaping the company’s most valuable asset – its people.
Product Development Geniuses at Netflix
As we have already seen how Netflix predicts the entire entertainment industry. Now the success of TV series and movies is not about industry hunches and focus groups. Netflix has turned that model on its head, and they’re always on the lookout for business grads who know which show can get you the next top-grosser.
At Netflix, data analytics drives everything from content creation to personalized recommendations. As a data-savvy business grad, you could be doing deep dives into the performance metrics of a new show, brainstorming sessions with film directors on what scenes attract the most traffic, and optimizing the browsing experience based on user behavior analysis. It’s like being a TV executive, data scientist, and psychologist all rolled into one.
So no matter which major you’re in right now, data will always follow you, and it’s up to you to make it your X-factor.
The Future is Bright (and Data-Driven)
As we wrap up this epic journey through the world of data analytics (and if you’ve made it this far, congratulations – you now have the attention span required for a career in data), let’s take a moment to reflect on why this field is such a game-changer for business students.
First and foremost, data analytics offers a way to stand out in an increasingly crowded job market, where everyone has more or less the same set of skills. Secondly, the skills you’ll develop in data analytics are transferable across industries and roles. Whether you end up in finance, marketing, or operations, or decide to start your own business, the ability to analyze and interpret data will be invaluable.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, pursuing data analytics keeps you relevant in a rapidly changing business landscape.
As automation continues to reshape traditional business roles, those with the ability to work with and interpret data will be in high demand. It’s a tried-and-tested method of l future-proofing your career.
A Personal Reflection (About Business Education in Bangladesh)
Before I wrap this article, I feel it’s only fair to share my perspective and motivations to advance in this field. I know I do not accurately represent the entire population in the business major, but there exists a substantially big sample I doand I’ll be talking about their perspective on business education in Bangladesh.
I’ll be honest – when I first started my business degree, the idea of working with data seemed about as appealing as a root canal. I was more interested in the “big picture” stuff – strategy, hedging interest rate swaps, and maybe a bit of creative marketing on the side. However, as I progressed through my studies, I understood that being 111th in broadband internet speed rankings globally may have caused our education system to be slow in updating our curriculum. Being slow is acceptable as long as the students are conscious of the fast-paced business world, but it can’t compensate for the lack of truly indispensable and timeless business knowledge and skills in the curriculum. Moreover, business schools in our country have a poor track record of actually placing their students in relevant careers.
For students who can highly relate to the entire context, fear not, there’s still hope for you. I believe data analytics can be something that gets your education and career back on track at warp speed (well, maybe not that fast).
The data analytics journey isn’t always easy, but trust me, it will be worth it. And who knows? You might just find that you enjoy it more than you ever thought was possible. After all, in the words of the great philosopher Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look at the data once in a while, you could miss it.” Okay, I might have paraphrased that last part, but you get the idea.
Hope you find your Ikigai.