Why BI Is More About Brains Than Buttons
Your Guide To Being The Best BI Analyst Ever
“In the world of data, analytics is the engine that turns insight into action.” – Bill Franks.
You can either agree with Bill Franks, or you’re an idiot in data. Sorry, not sorry.
What Is Brains in BI?
Brains in BI means to have an analyzing capability in your mind as a BI engineer/Analyst. The ability to look at data for a specific business and pour KPIs out of your brain as water flows when the spillways are opened. If you’re already working in BI or data, please do let me know what you think of my opinions in this post. If you’re new to BI, watch and learn.
The Power Of Analytical Thinking
A brain with the power of analytical thinking is unstoppable in BI. Did you get into BI just to be a sitting-in-the-corner BI guy? No, you got into BI to the best, to be in the center of the room and watch stakeholders drool for you. Analytical thinking is what will help you woo stakeholders. Whether you’re an employee for a consultancy or you have your own client, analytical thinking trumps all. So, what is analytical thinking?
Analytical Thinking is the thought process that you consult to make sense of the data in front of you. It’s the procedure of looking at the data analyzing it and building metrics and KPIs inside your mind that would affect the profits, revenue, or whatever it is the client is looking for.
Remember,
Every BI analyst is a BI engineer but not every BI engineer is a BI analyst.
Let me explain,
A gazillion BI engineers are working in BI and a lot of them have mastery over their skills including BI tools and other languages but not all of them have the mindset or the ability to make sense and logic of the data. That’s where a BI analyst (someone with analytical power) comes in. To be the best in BI you have to be valuable to the client or stakeholder. A BI analyst is someone who can analyze the business with KPIs built in their minds and a BI engineer is someone who just builds dashboards out of raw data. Combine the two and you make a deadly combination.
BI is Business Intelligence
The basic concept of BI is business intelligence. What does it mean? Have you ever thought about it?
Business intelligence is using analytical thinking to derive actionable insights from raw, dirty, and useless data (you convert useless to useful).
Here’s an example:
You’re a BI Analyst/engineer and you have in front of yourself specific data about a specific business. The data is such that the name of a customer is in one table, and their date of visit, date of birth, and phone number all are in separate tables. You analyze everything that looks like trash to the client and you collect all the customer details in one place. Now you’ve got something that the client can make decisions on. This is Business Intelligence or intelligently handling business data to make fruitful decisions for the business.
BI is like democracy only instead of people it is:
For the Business, By The Business, From The Business
How To Get Better Brains For BI?
Worried you won’t get better brains for BI? No issues, I got you.
Here are a few suggestions on how to train your mind for BI:
Work on real-life sample datasets but with a scenario in mind. Get samples from the internet and just sit down for a day and think about the KPIs that can be derived and imagine tomorrow you have to sit with the stakeholder and discuss the data. Give yourself a deadline. Day 1 will be 24 hours but by Day 30 you’ll be done in an hour or so.
Sample DatasetsListen to podcasts of BI Analysts. Practice what they’re doing. Note down everything they say.
Attend webinars, and ask questions from experts in the BI field.
Learn in Public. Whatever you did in point 1, post it online. Accept criticism and improve yourself online.
Analyze everything in your daily life. Let’s say you’re out for a walk and you see a car, analyze how many cars you see of the same make and model in your area in the next hour. Derive what would their business situation be based on the analysis of how many cars you have. When you reach home, google the company and see what their business situation is. Were you right? Great, treat yourself to something nice that day. Done with the treat? Do this for a week and analyze how many treats you got and then clearly visualize if you’re a successful analytical thinker or not.
Have You Guys Seen ‘The Good Doctor’?
Dr Shaun Murphy, an autistic doctor in the show visualizes the human anatomy in his mind while diagnosing or treating a patient which helps him in usually getting the right treatment done.
Do the same with data. When you see any kind of data, look into the air as if you’re visualizing something and think about it for the next 5 minutes. Note down whatever metrics or KPIs you had.
I will repeat, there are a gazillion BI engineers out there with mastery in technical skills. None of them are as good as you even if you have half the mastery in technical skills but a great analytical thinking ability.
If you further need some help and guidance, I’m dropping my contact info below.
Start Querying Today!
I am an Associate BI Engineer working at a Data And AI Firm. I’m trying to help newbies in Data land their first data job and impact as many fellow data analysts as I can. Here’s my contact info:
ajmal7809@gmail.com
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