Ongoing advances in data analytics have created a demand that outstrips the supply of data-literate professionals who can bridge the gap between business operations and data science and lead innovations such as:
- Migration of analytics software to the cloud from onsite silos, enabling business operations from administration to marketing to access relevant data and analyze it
- Automation in the form of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) that supports operations without human intervention
- Agile, interactive visualizations that update in real-time and enable self-service analytics to more people throughout the organization
- Evolution of forward-looking predictive and prescriptive analytics that enrich companies’ ability to make better, faster decisions with greater degrees of confidence
However, the explosive growth of big data is already outpacing technologies to keep up with it, leaving some 90% underutilized by analytics streams. This is driving a revolution in computing.
“After 40 years of research, the industrialization of quantum computing has begun to transform Data Analytics & AI with benefits expected in 2-3 years,” predicts Accenture, a global business and digital services consultant.
What Is Shaping the Immediate Future of Business Analytics?
As companies discover new ways to use data to make informed, intelligent decisions, new opportunities predicted in the next few years include:
- Decision Intelligence integrates business intelligence and AI to optimize the identification of opportunities, the means to exploit them and predict outcomes.
- Edge Analytics enables companies to evaluate the glut of data at the perimeter of their analytics processes to determine its value before storing it for later analysis.
- Embedded Analytics supports self-service data visualizations and interactive dashboards by integrating analytics applications, business intelligence and reporting systems.
- Augmented Analytics uses AI and ML to discover trends and patterns that users might not otherwise see.
- Data Security supported by forensic data analytics can identify trends that require risk-management scrutiny to ensure regulatory compliance.
“With modern AI, customization and more, the field of business analytics becomes more alive and robust than ever before,” according to Analytics Insight.
What Is the Next Big Thing in Data Analytics?
In 2019, Google’s quantum computer completed a calculation 158 million times faster than the world’s most powerful supercomputer, accomplishing the task in four minutes compared to an estimated 10,000 years, Medium reported.
Advances like that, according to the online journal of innovation, are “the seed for the world’s first fully functional quantum computer that can make better medicines, create smarter artificial intelligence and solve great riddles of the cosmos.”
Quantum computing, simply put, mimics the physics of atomic and sub-atomic phenomena to produce computing power that increases exponentially as new data is introduced. Current computational power growth is linear.
McKinsey & Company notes that 2021 investment in quantum technology research-and-development start-ups topped $1.4 billion (a 100% increase from the previous year) and advises enterprises to start preparing now for the disruptions it will cause.
Though still largely in R&D, the global consultancy says corporate innovators in pharmaceutical, chemical, automotive and financial sectors are already using it to run simulations, power AI and machine learning and optimize search.
“In the burgeoning quantum-computing ecosystem and emerging business use cases promise to create significant value for industries — if executives prepare now,” it predicts.
How Are Business Leaders Preparing for the Future of Analytics?
As companies expand their analytics to unlock the value of complex and exponentially growing data sets, demand will grow for business analytics managers with the insights and skills to lead data-based initiatives, improve processes, identify opportunities and solve difficult challenges.
The Master of Business Administration in Business Analytics Management online program at Fitchburg State University has a handful of courses that equip professionals with analytics skills, including Managing Business Analytics and Business Analytics: Quality, Ethics and Law. The program prepares graduates for leadership roles through courses that focus on:
- Applied data analytics for business decision-making
- Business analytics quality, ethics and law
- Managing business analytics
The accredited program, taught by top-tier professors and practitioners, also provides hands-on experience with data visualization and tools, such as Tableau, to analyze, interpret and communicate key insights to diverse stakeholders, from C-suite executives to front-line staff.
Learn more about Fitchburg State University’s online Master of Business Administration in Business Analytics Management program.
