Most popular business analytics techniques

Business analytics is the process of analyzing data to make business decisions. Businesses use it to understand their customers, improve their products and services, and make smarter choices about how they spend money.

Business analytics is often a combination of many different business analyst tools and techniques, including:

• Market research: Gathering data from customers about what they like. This can include surveys and focus groups.

• Data mining: Finding patterns in large data sets that can be used for future predictions about business trends or customer behavior.

• Data visualization: Using charts and graphs to show how the information relates to each other in visual ways that are easy for people to understand quickly at a glance (like this article!).

• Statistical analysis: Using math formulas to find relationships between different pieces of data so you can use them together later (like when we calculate our monthly salary).

Want to know more about business analytics? Check out our blog on what is business analytics for more information.

Popular Business Analytics techniques

Business analytics is a field that is growing rapidly, and it’s not hard to see why. There are so many ways we can use data to help improve our businesses, and in this post, we’re going to focus on some of the most popular business analytics methods.

• Business Process Modeling (BPM)

Business Process Modeling (BPM) is a business analysis technique that helps organizations to understand and optimize their business processes. It involves the detailed examination of a company’s processes and identifying the inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement. BPM can help you identify areas where you can make your business more efficient and productive by eliminating unnecessary steps or tasks, streamlining operations, and reducing errors.

• Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a process that involves generating ideas through group discussion without any evaluation or criticism from other members of the group or team. It’s a great way to create new ideas or solutions for problems, especially when you’re working with people who have different perspectives than yours. The result will usually be much more innovative than anyone could come up with—hence the “wisdom of crowds” phenomenon!

• CATWOE (Customer, Actor, Transformation, Worldview, Owner, and Environment)

The CATWOE technique creates a detailed map of the system being analyzed. This business analysis technique uses a top-down approach to analyze the design and its stakeholders. It helps you understand what is going on in your business by identifying the actors, their roles within the system, how they interact with each other, and their goals.

The CATWOE technique helps understand how interactions between customers and employees affect your business strategy. By mapping out these relationships, you can identify key areas where improvement may be needed to reach your goals more quickly!

Want to know how to start a career with business analytics? Check out our blog on business analytics careers for more information.

• MoSCoW

MoSCoW (Must or Should, Could or Would) is a technique used to help businesses understand their options for changing their product or service offerings. By breaking down what needs to be done into a series of questions (“musts,” “shoulds,” etc.), you can figure out how best to proceed with your changes based on what needs to be done most urgently or efficiently—or both!

• MOST (Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics) Analysis

The MOST analysis is a business analytics technique for understanding the current state of a company’s operations and its future goals. It can align a company’s goals with its resources and capabilities. The MOST analysis involves:

1. Mission Statement 

Mission statements describe the purpose of a business or organization. They are often cultivated in scope and can be used as a guiding principle for decision-making within an organization.

2. Objectives 

Objectives are specific goals an organization needs to achieve to accomplish its mission statement. They should be measurable so managers can determine whether they’ve been achieved.

3. Strategies

Strategies are specific actions an organization takes to meet its objectives. They generally involve creating an advantage over competitors or changing consumer behaviors through marketing campaigns, product development efforts, etc.

4. Tactics

Tactics are specific steps managers take to achieve their strategies; they’re often small-scale activities that support more significant initiatives within an organization (e.g., launching new products into different markets).

Want to know more about the advantages of business analysis? Check out our blog on advantages of business analysis for more information.

• Pestle Analysis

PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors. It is one of the business analyst tools and techniques used to analyze an industry’s external environment and its effects on the business.

This analysis aims to help managers understand the competitive forces in an industry by looking at both the opportunities and threats in the marketplace. Use this information to develop strategies to take advantage of positive factors while minimizing exposure to negative ones.

For PESTLE analysis to be practical, it needs to be conducted at a macro-level (overall) and a micro-level (specific). The macro-level looks at general economic or societal trends that could affect your business. The micro-level looks at particular companies within your industry or market segment.

• SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a valuable business analyst tool and skill for making strategic decisions. It can identify and analyze a company or organization’s internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The analysis helps the business determine its most significant areas of opportunity and its greatest threats. It also helps the company identify its internal strengths and weaknesses that may impact its ability to compete in a given market.

The SWOT analysis is an easy-to-use tool that can help you make better-informed business decisions.

Want to know more detailed information on business analyst roles? Check out our blog on essential business analyst roles for more detailed information.

• Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats is one of the business analytics methods that helps you to break down your business challenges into six perspectives. It allows you to see the problem from different angles.

Edward de Bono developed these business analyst tools and techniques and published them in 1985 his book called “Thinking Hats” (1985). In this book, he talks about the six hats: White Hat, Red Hat, Black Hat, Yellow Hat, Green Hat, and Blue Hat.

The six thinking hats represent:

1. White Hat: objective, factual analysis
2. Red Hat: emotions, feelings
3. Black Hat: negative approach
4. Yellow Hat: optimism
5. Green Hat: creativity and new ideas
6. Blue Hat: process knowledge

Want to know more about the different business analytics tools? Check out our blog on essential business analyst tools for more information. 

• The 5 Whys

The 5 Whys is a business analysis technique that helps identify a problem’s root cause by asking “why” five times. It works by asking, “What happened?” followed by, “Why did it happen?” and so on until you’re eventually left with the actual root cause. For example, if a customer complains about their order being late, you’ll ask them why they think it was late and then ask why they believe it was late again. This way, you can pinpoint exactly what went wrong and then fix it.

• Non-Functional Requirement Analysis

When you’re building software or web application, it’s not enough to make the product. You also have to ensure that your product is built in a way that allows it to be used by your customers. That means understanding their needs and expectations and ensuring that you create something that will meet those needs.

Non-functional requirement analysis is one business analysis technique for doing exactly that. It involves analyzing all of the non-functional requirements for an application—things like security, scalability, performance, and usability. The idea is that if you can ensure these things are met during development, you’ll have a better product overall.

Want to know more about the most asked questions about business analytics? Check out our blog on business analytics FAQs for more information.

Conclusion

In summary, business analytics plays a vital role in the success of any organization. It ensures that the needs of both the client and the company are met, and those goals are achieved. Business analytics is not just about writing reports; it’s about ensuring that those reports help people do their jobs better.

Key takeaways: 

• Business analysis is about finding the right solution for your company’s unique needs. When you clearly understand what your business is trying to accomplish, you can identify and prioritize those goals. Then you can develop an effective strategy to achieve them.
• The strategic business analysis looks at how a company should act over time to achieve its long-term goals. 
• The tactical business analysis focuses on how to do things better every day. 
• Operational business analysis helps teams run their day-to-day operations more effectively and efficiently.
• These business analysis techniques allow you to create a strategy that works for your company’s needs—growing sales or reducing costs—and execute those strategies effectively.