Tara Dewey on Business Analytics and Gilroy Ventures

On the road to success for a new-founded enterprise, there are too many obstacles even to count. Unfortunately for the majority of new business owners, these issues can be overwhelming and cause their endeavors to fail. Just considering the amount of work and attention one has to pay to their back-end administrative duties, real-life encounters with employees, non-avoidable negotiations with suppliers and potential customers, and so on, it does not surprise that business analytics is growing faster than ever before.

A few years ago, the term "Big Data" started appearing at every corner. The underlying concept of it involves streams of information so vast that basic software cannot even begin to understand them. This is where individuals with a background in business analytics step in. Generally speaking, most entrepreneurs' skills in this area are limited to knowing how to utilize basic functions in Excel spreadsheets. To be able to break down and fully comprehend Big Data, which is crucial to develop one's business, people need to go through extensive training to learn how to approach the process and fulfill it most efficiently. Consider, for example, if any given Walmart store was to list all of their weekly transactions and ask for someone to tell them what items seem to be underperforming. With millions of transactions happening daily, it would be impossible for anyone without a background in analytics to answer this question.

A few decades ago, there was no job that matched today's role as a business analyst. The world was not yet modernized to a point where one could make it their career to help others comprehend trends, patterns, forecasts, and other concepts through technical support. Nowadays, however, there are individuals like Tara Dewey who have learned that business analytics is one of the fastest-growing subareas of this market. It is not surprising to see this as a regular profession that universities are adapting and starting to create academic degrees for.

The scope of duties for a business analyst can vary highly with the industry. A business analyst for an accounting firm will have different things on their agenda than an analyst working for private clients. Most often, those serving large companies will have to do things like market forecasts to predict what the primary drivers of demand will be and how their behavior is going to change. The ones working with private clients, however, will spend more time analyzing how personal ventures can be optimized based on saving money spent on individual tax, hiring efficient workers, expanding at the right time, and more.

Although being a business analyst does not come with a clear-cut promotion schedule, it does offer a plethora of opportunities. To better explain this, consider the following example. If a law firm operating out of Gilroy hires a first-year associate, they usually get to go through the ranks of a senior, manager, and, many years later, maybe become a partner. Though some prefer the predetermined schedule of this nature, business analytics is great for people wanting to be promoted based on merit and not firmwide policies. In the example of Tara Dewey, her improvements on the corporate ladder used to depend solely on how well she performed her duties. Thus, there is not much that compares to traditional ranks as this job is very self-driven.

Like many other programs, business analytics requires attention to detail that is impeccable. Furthermore, it almost demands one to be efficient and able to think on-the-go and under pressure. People with skills in the computer area and an interest to deal with data-related projects should be the ones looking into this market. As far as the proper steps to achieve the necessary credentials for a full-time position, one should ensure that they have no less than a business bachelor's degree. Analytics programs are fairly new, so they do not have a lot of short-term training. To that end, everyone looking for a job in the field must have a college degree that depicts their knowledge base.

Based on the current trends, which were put in place by successful analysts like Tara Dewey, it seems that this industry is going to continue evolving over the upcoming years. And rightly so. Technological advancements are rapidly changing the landscape of all sectors, and it makes sense the digitalization is coming for everyone.