If you want to launch or buy a business, or become a top leader for a corporation, it is important to build up as many relevant skills as you can. While this list always includes things like financial management, human resources, operational processes, sales, and marketing, these days another topic has come to the forefront: big data.
More and more businesses are now using databases full of data in numerous ways to operate more efficiently, effectively, and creatively. As such, if you’re looking at enrolling in a degree to help your entrepreneurial journey, it pays to find an option that will cover the field of big data. There are programs which focus on it completely, or you might like to opt for a more all-round degree, such as an AACSB-accredited online MBA, that will give you a good range of skills.
Keen to find out more? Read on for some top reasons to enroll in a degree today that will teach you to work with and utilize big data.
Become More Attractive to Employers and Investors
One of the first reasons to learn about big data is that it can give you a big leg up when it comes to getting a job or being promoted. With so many businesses using analytics to build and turn companies around now, more and more firms need employees who can work with information effectively. After all, what is the point of having access to a lot of data if no one has the skill to actually analyze it?
The demand for analytics professionals has been soaring in recent years, and isn’t likely to drop anytime soon. If you’re keen to land your dream job at a giant corporation like Google, Ford, Amazon, or the like, or to help a startup turn into a major player, you will be well placed if you have a background in big data.
Similarly, if you plan to launch your own venture and need to find investors to partner with, or lenders to source funds from, having a degree in analytics will assist you. You will become more attractive to investors and lenders because they will see that you can utilize large reams of information to plan, launch, and build a business profitably.
Understanding analytics will enable you to determine if there is a market for your product or service, and the things people in your target demographic are looking for; as well as where best to capture the interest of these leads. Big data can also help you to better manage a budget and much more.
Know How to Make Quicker and More Informed Decisions
As you can imagine, when you know how to work with big data, you can look at and analyze a wide variety of pertinent information quickly, and use that data to determine which choices to make in many areas. Having a degree in this specialty therefore allows you to make better, and timely, decisions because you are informed and can have information at your fingertips in seconds rather than hours, days, months, or even years.
As an example, when it comes to inventory levels, buyers can look at the data surrounding sales history to decide whether or not to buy more of a product, and if so, in what kind of volume. Marketers can analyze the results of online campaigns to ascertain the best outlets to use in the future, or the top performing keywords to incorporate; while sales people can easily find out which types of customers shop regularly and buy the most, and concentrate their efforts on them. The same principle applies across all areas of business operations.
When you are able to make decisions more quickly, and use data to ensure that the choices you make will have better outcomes, this can revolutionize your results and your business. It can also dramatically reduce stress levels, because you don’t need to feel like you are making decisions on a whim — instead, you will have solid data to rely on.
Save Time and Money
Of course, once you start working with analytics, you can also save a lot of time and money. For instance, rather than manually compiling information, reports, and the like, computer programs can source and analyze the data for you, and have tasks completed in seconds that once took your hours or longer.
Knowing how to utilize large reams of information can have your questions answered in seconds; automate complex workflows and streamline processes; show you which tasks can be eliminated because they’re not producing results; help you to develop new products or services more quickly; sort through employee job applications in a flash; and much more.
You can also save significant amounts of money when you are confident in working with big data. Crunching all the numbers will help you to see where you can cut costs on labor, supplies, inventory, production, insurance, equipment, marketing campaigns, customer service, and so on; and provide you with insight into where you might be able to create a competitive advantage for a low investment.