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Chap I
Chap I
Data-driven companies treat their data as a business asset and actively look for ways to turn it
into a competitive advantage. Success with business analytics depends on data quality, skilled
analysts who understand the technologies and the business, and a commitment to using data
to gain insights that inform business decisions.
In other words, data analytics is more of a general description of the modern analytics
process. Business analytics implies a narrower focus and has functionally become more
prevalent and more important for organizations around the globe as the overall volume of
data has increased.
Using cloud analytics tools, organizations can consolidate data from different departments—
sales, marketing, HR, and finance—for a unified view that shows how one department’s
numbers can influence the others. Further, tools, such as visualization, predictive insights,
and scenario modeling deliver all kinds of unique insights across an entire organization.
Initial analysis is typically performed on a smaller sample data set of data. Analytics tools
range from spreadsheets with statistical functions to complex data mining and predictive
modeling applications. Patterns and relationships in the raw data are revealed. Then new
questions are asked, and the analytic process iterates until the business goal is met.
Deployment of predictive models involves a statistical process known as scoring and uses
records typically located in a database. Scores help enterprises make more informed, real-
time decisions within applications and business processes.
See the real-time benefits that can result from effective analytics.
Descriptive analytics, which tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) to understand the
present state of a business;
Predictive analytics, which analyses trend data to assess the likelihood of future
outcomes; and
Prescriptive analytics, which uses past performance to generate recommendations for
handling similar situations in the future.
A Diagram outlining the difference between predictive, descriptive and prescriptive analytics
Some schools of thought also include a fourth approach, diagnostic analytics, which is like
descriptive analytics. It analyses the state of a business and diagnoses why certain events or
outcomes happened.
Business data analytics has many individual components that work together to provide
insights. While business analytics tools handle the elements of crunching data and creating
insights through reports and visualization, the process actually starts with the infrastructure
for bringing that data in. A standard workflow for the business analytics process is as
follows:
Data Analyst
Most entry-level professionals interested in getting into a data-related job start off as Data
analysts. Qualifying for this role is as simple as it gets. All you need is a bachelor’s degree
and good statistical knowledge. Strong technical skills would be a plus and can give you an
edge over most other applicants. Other than this, companies expect you to understand data
handling, modeling and reporting techniques along with a strong understanding of the
business.
Data Engineer
Data Engineer either acquires a master’s degree in a data-related field or gather a good
amount of experience as a Data Analyst. A Data Engineer needs to have a strong technical
background with the ability to create and integrate APIs ( application programming interface).
They also need to understand data pipelining and performance optimization.
Data Scientist
Data Scientist is the one who analyses and interpret complex digital data. While there are
several ways to get into a data scientist’s role, the most seamless one is by acquiring enough
experience and learning the various data scientist skills. These skills include advanced
statistical analyses, a complete understanding of machine learning, data conditioning etc.
For a better understanding of these professionals, let’s dive deeper and understand their
required skill-sets.
Skill-Sets
The below table illustrates the different skill sets required for Data Analyst, Data Engineer
and Data Scientist:
Data Analyst vs Data Engineer vs Data Scientist Skill Sets
As mentioned above, a data analyst’s primary skill set revolves around data acquisition,
handling, and processing. A data engineer, on the other hand, requires an intermediate level
understanding of programming to build thorough algorithms along with a mastery of statistics
and math! And finally, a data scientist needs to be a master of both worlds. Data, stats, and
math along with in-depth programming knowledge for Machine Learning and Deep Learning.
Now that we have a complete understanding of what skill sets you need to become a data
analyst, data engineer or data scientist, let’s look at what the typical roles and responsibilities
of these professionals.
Next, let us compare the different roles and responsibilities of a data analyst, data engineer
and data scientist in their day to day life.
Roles and Responsibilities
The roles and responsibilities of a data analyst, data engineer and data scientist are quite
similar as you can see from their skill-sets. Refer the below table for more understanding:
Data Analyst vs Data Engineer vs Data Scientist Roles
Pre-processing and data Develop, test & maintain Responsible for developing
gathering architectures Operational Models
Emphasis on
Carry out data analytics and
representing data via Understand programming and
optimization using machine
reporting and its complexity
learning & deep learning
visualization
Responsible for
Deploy ML & statistical Involved in strategic planning for
statistical analysis &
models data analytics
data interpretation
Ensures data acquisition Building pipelines for various Integrate data & perform ad-hoc
& maintenance ETL operations analysis
Optimize Statistical Ensures data accuracy and Fill in the gap between the
Efficiency & Quality flexibility stakeholders and customer
1. Business Analyst
A business analyst is responsible for improving a company’s processes, products, services
and systems. They must continually look for areas that have a scope for improvement. BAs
must identify what’s technologically and financially feasible options for their organization.
They must have strong research skills to find the organization’s weak spots and make
improvements accordingly. Apart from research skills, business analysts must also have
strong communication skills as they work with multiple departments, including the IT and
financial reporting teams.
A business analytics job has relevance in almost every field, making it much more
employable. Some of the industry applications of business analytics are mentioned below-
1. E-Commerce
2. Education
3. Finance
4. Banking
5. Agriculture
6. Logistics
7. Government
8. Manufacturing
Business analytics, through its research and methods, allows the business to identify and
develop strategies to mitigate the risk. Personalization of the products and services can occur
once the data has been analyzed. Business analytics also aids in acquiring and retaining users.
2. Data Analyst
A data analyst is responsible for using data to gather information on particular topics. They
have to conduct surveys and collect the information necessary for performing the analysis.
Data analysts are responsible for presenting the data in an easy-to-understand manner as well.
They use Microsoft Access, SQL, Microsoft Excel, and many other technologies. Other
essential skills for this role are Statistical Analysis, Data Management, and Reporting.
Below mentioned are the roles and responsibilities of a data analyst-
1. Collect data
2. Analyze the data
3. Use statistical methods and techniques
4. Generate reports
5. Identify the patterns or trends in the data
6. Database management
Some of the skills that are required from a data analyst are mentioned below-
1. SQL
2. Data management
3. Data visualization
4. MATLAB
5. Data cleaning
6. Python
7. R
8. Linear Algebra and Calculus
Proficiency in the skills sets open more chances for employability and ensures steady growth
in the industry. Business analytics job opportunities in India are numerous, and data analysis
is one of those.
3. HR Analyst
An HR analyst (human resources analyst) uses computer applications and techniques to
analyze human resources data. They gather, research, analyze, and use the data to find and
share valuable business information with the management. This information helps the
organization find better candidates, motivate the current employees, and fix staffing
problems.
Some of the roles and responsibilities are mentioned below-
1. Trend analysis for employee purpose
2. Statistics analyses
3. Attrition identification
4. Performance identification
5. Relationship management
HR analysis brings a new dimension to the role of HR, where professionals get included in
strategy making as the data reflects hiring processes and brings more improvement to the
hiring process.
HR analysis increases the employee experience as it brings a productive workforce. It helps
in identifying the aspects of employee upskilling and training.
4. Financial Analyst
Every company has to find ways to use its profits most efficiently. To find the best uses for
their earnings, they rely on financial analysts. Financial analysts have to study the recent
market trends and consider the microeconomic and macroeconomic factors and the
demographics to help the company make suitable investments.
They must understand how the company invests its resources and how secure those
investments are. Financial analysts advise on protecting the company’s current wealth in
harsh times and growing the same.
For example, they might help the executive board determine how risky a particular
investment is to help them make better-informed financial decisions.
Some of the roles and responsibilities of a financial analyst are mentioned below-
1. Analyze the financial data and make predictions
2. Reports generation
3. Identify investment opportunities and advise
4. Profit/ Loss analysis
5. Financial planning
6. Advice on transactions
7. Portfolio management
8. Corporate development
Some of the skills required for procuring highly compensating are mentioned below-
1. Financial skills
2. Analytical skills
3. Business valuation
4. Financial modelling
5. MS Excel
5. Supply Chain Analyst
Supply chain analysts have to analyze the supply chain of their organization and enhance the
same. They work with other organization teams to determine if the current supply chain is
optimal and how it can improve.
For example, a supply chain analyst might find faults in their organization’s current
warehousing system and suggest a better one to make the operation more efficient. They
work during regular work hours and might have to perform site visits occasionally.
Some of the responsibilities of a supply chain analyst are mentioned below-
1. Collecting the data
2. Analyzing the data
3. Operation management
4. Inventory analysis
5. Analyzing trends
Some of the skills required from a supply chain analyst are mentioned below-
1. Quantitative analysis
2. Operations
3. Inventory
4. Problem- solving
5. Decision- making
6. Critical analysis
6. Marketing Analyst
A marketing analyst is responsible for helping businesses gather insights on their products
and services from a marketing perspective. They analyze the marketing programs and
industry trends using customer profiling, data analysis, and predictive statistics.
Marketing analysts work with various departments of an organization to prepare and present
findings to clients. They look for opportunities for new marketing campaigns and generate
sales forecasts. Their generated insights help companies in getting new customers, retaining
old clients, and boosting their revenue.
Some of the roles and responsibilities for a marketing analyst are mentioned below-
1. Analyze data
2. Identify the patterns or trends
3. Draw actionable insights
4. Strategy creation for the company’s efforts.
The skills and responsibilities of a marketing analyst are mentioned below-
1. Market Research
2. Marketing communications
3. Marketing strategy
4. MS Excel
5. Statistical literacy
6. Communication
7. Data Scientist
A data scientist is responsible for finding valuable insights from large quantities of data to
help their company make better-informed decisions. They use various processes, algorithms,
and scientific methods to gather insights from unstructured and structured data.
They wrangle, clear, and filter the data to make it usable for analysis. Data scientists use
machine learning algorithms and deep learning, and additional tech skills to perform their
duties. They also have excellent story-telling skills to share their insights with a non-tech
audience (such as stakeholders).
Data being a core of any industry, it becomes important to work with data that it makes logic
and serves a purpose to solve business problems. Data science has applicability in almost
every industry such as government, banking, manufacturing, e- commerce, education, retail,
transportation, etc. The industry applicability increases the chances of the employability for a
data scientist.
Some of the skills required for data scientist are mentioned below-
1. Computing
2. Statistical analysis
3. Data visualization
4. Programming
5. Mathematics
6. Data Wrangling
7. Report generation
8. Communication
9. Data analysis
DATA SCIENCE
Data Science is the deep study of a large quantity of data, which involves extracting some
meaningful from the raw, structured, and unstructured data. The extracting out meaningful
data from large amounts use processing of data and this processing can be done using
statistical techniques and algorithm, scientific techniques, different technologies, etc. It
uses various tools and techniques to extract meaningful data from raw data. Data Science is
also known as the Future of Artificial Intelligence.
For Example, Jagroop loves books to read but every time when he wants to buy some books
he was always confused that which book he should buy as there are plenty of choices in
front of him. This Data Science Technique will useful. When he opens Amazon he will get
product recommendations on the basis of his previous data. When he chooses one of them
he also gets a recommendation to buy these books with this one as this set is mostly bought.
So all Recommendation of Products and Showing set of books purchased collectively is one
of the examples of Data Science.
APPLICATIONS OF DATA SCIENCE
1. In Search Engines
The most useful application of Data Science is Search Engines. As we know when we want
to search for something on the internet, we mostly used Search engines like Google, Yahoo,
Safari, Firefox, etc. So Data Science is used to get Searches faster.
For Example, When we search something suppose “Data Structure and algorithm courses ”
then at that time on the Internet Explorer we get the first link of GeeksforGeeks Courses.
This happens because the GeeksforGeeks website is visited most in order to get information
regarding Data Structure courses and Computer related subjects. So this analysis is Done
using Data Science, and we get the Topmost visited Web Links.
2. In Transport
Data Science also entered into the Transport field like Driverless Cars. With the help of
Driverless Cars, it is easy to reduce the number of Accidents.
For Example, In Driverless Cars the training data is fed into the algorithm and with the
help of Data Science techniques, the Data is analyzed like what is the speed limit in
Highway, Busy Streets, Narrow Roads, etc. And how to handle different situations while
driving etc.
3. In Finance
Data Science plays a key role in Financial Industries. Financial Industries always have an
issue of fraud and risk of losses. Thus, Financial Industries needs to automate risk of loss
analysis in order to carry out strategic decisions for the company. Also, Financial Industries
uses Data Science Analytics tools in order to predict the future. It allows the companies to
predict customer lifetime value and their stock market moves.
For Example, In Stock Market, Data Science is the main part. In the Stock Market, Data
Science is used to examine past behavior with past data and their goal is to examine the
future outcome. Data is analyzed in such a way that it makes it possible to predict future
stock prices over a set timetable.
4. In E-Commerce
E-Commerce Websites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. uses data Science to make a better user
experience with personalized recommendations.
For Example, When we search for something on the E-commerce websites we get
suggestions similar to choices according to our past data and also we get recommendations
according to most buy the product, most rated, most searched, etc. This is all done with the
help of Data Science.
5. In Health Care
In the Healthcare Industry data science act as a boon. Data Science is used for:
Detecting Tumor.
Drug discoveries.
Medical Image Analysis.
Virtual Medical Bots.
Genetics and Genomics.
Predictive Modeling for Diagnosis etc.
6. Image Recognition
Currently, Data Science is also used in Image Recognition. For Example, When we upload
our image with our friend on Facebook, Facebook gives suggestions Tagging who is in the
picture. This is done with the help of machine learning and Data Science. When an Image is
Recognized, the data analysis is done on one’s Facebook friends and after analysis, if the
faces which are present in the picture matched with someone else profile then Facebook
suggests us auto-tagging.
7. Targeting Recommendation
Targeting Recommendation is the most important application of Data Science. Whatever
the user searches on the Internet, he/she will see numerous posts everywhere. This can be
explained properly with an example: Suppose I want a mobile phone, so I just Google
search it and after that, I changed my mind to buy offline. Data Science helps those
companies who are paying for Advertisements for their mobile. So everywhere on the
internet in the social media, in the websites, in the apps everywhere I will see the
recommendation of that mobile phone which I searched for. So this will force me to buy
online.
8. Airline Routing Planning
With the help of Data Science, Airline Sector is also growing like with the help of it, it
becomes easy to predict flight delays. It also helps to decide whether to directly land into
the destination or take a halt in between like a flight can have a direct route from Delhi to
the U.S.A or it can halt in between after that reach at the destination.
9. Data Science in Gaming
In most of the games where a user will play with an opponent i.e. a Computer Opponent,
data science concepts are used with machine learning where with the help of past data the
Computer will improve its performance. There are many games like Chess, EA Sports, etc.
will use Data Science concepts.
10. Medicine and Drug Development
The process of creating medicine is very difficult and time-consuming and has to be done
with full disciplined because it is a matter of Someone’s life. Without Data Science, it takes
lots of time, resources, and finance or developing new Medicine or drug but with the help
of Data Science, it becomes easy because the prediction of success rate can be easily
determined based on biological data or factors. The algorithms based on data science will
forecast how this will react to the human body without lab experiments.
11. In Delivery Logistics
Various Logistics companies like DHL, FedEx, etc. make use of Data Science. Data
Science helps these companies to find the best route for the Shipment of their Products, the
best time suited for delivery, the best mode of transport to reach the destination, etc.
12. Autocomplete
AutoComplete feature is an important part of Data Science where the user will get the
facility to just type a few letters or words, and he will get the feature of auto-completing the
line. In Google Mail, when we are writing formal mail to someone so at that time data
science concept of Autocomplete feature is used where he/she is an efficient choice to auto-
complete the whole line. Also in Search Engines in social media, in various apps,
AutoComplete feature is widely used
Data scientists collaborate closely with business leaders and other key players to comprehend
company objectives and identify data-driven strategies for achieving those objectives. A data
scientist’s job is to gather a large amount of data, analyze it, separate out the essential
information, and then utilize tools like SAS, R programming, Python, etc. to extract insights
that may be used to increase the productivity and efficiency of the business. Depending on an
organization’s needs, data scientists have a wide range of roles and responsibilities. The
following is a list of some of the data scientist roles and responsibilities: