Career opportunities in business intelligence (BI) are on the rise. Requiring knowledge of numerous subjects, data professionals are filling important roles within an organization, such as business analysts, project managers and technical architects. Those who decide to pursue a BI career path must possess a blend of business knowledge, people skills and technical expertise.
Career Paths
Consulting and Contracting
A career in this sector usually offers advancement, lucrative pay, the ability to play many roles, great variety of activities and tremendous learning potential. It is a career ideal for those who like variety and change as each project is different.
Industries
BI professionals working as consultants generally command the highest salaries, particularly in vertical markets with the highest growth such as pharmaceuticals and software. Those professionals working in the lowest paying industries, such as state and local government and utilities, experienced the highest increase in compensation from 2004-2005. Other industries where BI professionals often consult are financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, communications and education.
Business Intelligence Analyst
A BI analyst develops a comprehensive understanding of business processes, data warehouses, productions systems and departmental databases. They also work in cross-functional teams to help build awareness of BI tools, projects and to assist in demonstrations of BI solutions.
Business Intelligence Project Manager
A BI project manager is responsible for the overall success of reporting data deliverables. Main responsibilities include coordinating with internal departments to build or deploy data warehouses, applications and portals. They must also identify business improvement areas and develop appropriate solutions.
Business Intelligence Developer
BI developers design BI solutions to meet the client’s requirements. They also design and develop ETL to support data integration necessities. They are responsible for managing database applications in SQL server, Oracle and DB2.
SQL Server Business Intelligence
The SQL platform empowers users to access and mash-up data from practically any source. It also allows for easy collaboration of insights using familiar tools.
BI Semantic Model
This model provides a linear view across heterogeneous data sources and easily transforms end user-created apps into corporate BI solutions.
Power View
Power View is an interactive browser-based data visualization tool that allows data scientists and business leaders to gain insights into things like customer behavior, competition and economic shifts.
Master Data Services
This allows users to maintain master data across the entire organizational structures utilized for reference data, mapping, and metadata management.
Business Intelligence Administrator
BI Administrators work with database management software in an effort to determine more effective ways to analyze, utilize and present data. Because BI systems are used to aid business owners in making informed decisions about current market situations, administrators must be able to generate standard as well as customized reports that summarize business data for review by executives and stakeholders.
Business Intelligence Manager
The primary responsibilities of BI Managers are to strategically design and implement BI software and systems, including integration with databases and data warehouses. They are also in charge of guiding the lifecycle of BI project efforts, as well as collaborating with app developers, business owners and operations engineers to ensure the production of BI designs. They will also frequently lead and conduct unit testing of BI solutions.
Business Intelligence Consultant
BI consultants’ main duties are to help organizations adopt and learn new strategies for organizing data. They will implement software and improve existing systems that make it easier to manage information. BI consultants improve a company’s efficiency by combining their knowledge of technology with business management.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for careers associated with business intelligence looks very promising, with an expected growth rate of 14% through 2024. As businesses attempt to rebuild, refocus and reorganize, business intelligence professionals will assist them with ways to rebuild while remaining cost effective.
