In this article, we review the best business analytics certifications and courses.
What is Business Analytics?
Business Analytics (BA) is a set of skills, technologies and practices to explore and organize business data. It focuses on gaining new insights into business performance. BA is using data and statistical methods to analyze different aspects of the business.
BA uses analytical modeling, numerical analysis and predictive modeling. The analysis is then used for decision making. BA uses quantitative methods and data for business modeling and decision making.
Business Analytics can be divided into the following steps:
- Business goal is defined.
- Methodology is selected for analysis.
- Data acquisition (usually extracted from business systems).
- Data Analysis
Obtaining business analytics certifications is a great way to learn and at the same time verify your expertise in the field. Being certified will strengthen your resume and improve your career prospects.
There are numerous business analytics tools available. These tools cover data visualization, business intelligence reporting, statistical analysis, and big data platforms.
BA is a popular and in-demand skill in the last few years and it will only grow from here. All large and medium-size companies are already using or diving into business analytics.
Learning BA and adding a certificate to your CV will open many new doors in terms of job opportunities. Many different business analytics training and classes are available online.
But how do you choose the best ones?
We have collected the list of 15 best Business Analytics Certifications and Courses. Here they are:
1. Business Analytics Specialization by Wharton
Business Analytics specialization from Wharton University provides an introduction to big data analytics. It was designed for all business professionals, including those with no prior analytics experience.
You will gain an understanding of how data analytics describes, predicts and aids business decisions. It will cover the areas of marketing, human resources, finance, and operations.
This is certainly one of the best business analytics certifications you can get. You will develop basic data literacy and an analytic mindset. It will help you make strategic decisions based on data.
In this specialization, there are 5 courses:
a) Customer Analytics
This course provides an overview of the field of analytics. It is an introduction to customer analytics.
b) Operations Analytics
This course focuses on how to use data to match supply with demand in various business settings. You will learn how to model future demand uncertainties, how to predict the outcomes of competing for policy choices. Learn how to choose the best risk-adjusted action.
c) People Analytics
People analytics is a data-driven approach to managing people at work. Already now, business leaders can make decisions about people based on deep analysis of data. In contrast to traditional methods of personal relationships and decision making.
d) Accounting Analytics
Accounting Analytics teaches how to link financial statements and non-financial metrics to financial performance. This course was designed to help you make better business decisions about the emerging roles of accounting analytics.
e) Business Analytics Capstone
Business Analytics Capstone Project enables you to apply your knowledge to real data-driven decisions. Once you complete your analysis, you’ll be better prepared to make better data-driven business decisions of your own.
It takes 3 months to complete, but it will depend on your learning pace and free time.
What you’ll learn:
- Explain how data is used for recruiting and performance evaluation
- Model supply and demand for various business scenarios
- Solve business problems with data-driven decision-making
- Understand the tools used to predict customer behavior
Duration: 3 months
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $79 per month
Course: Register Here
2. Business Analytics by Columbia University
This is the MicroMasters program from Columbia University. This program teaches the skills and insights to improve business performance using data. Learn statistical, quantitative analysis, and predictive modeling to help make actionable decisions.
The curriculum provides learners with classes that showcase the use of statistical analysis, computing tools, and mathematical models to predict the outcomes of various business decisions and identify the best implementation.
The use of business analytics has increased in all areas of business. It’s heavily used in healthcare, government, retail, e-commerce, media, manufacturing, and the service.
Career prospects after obtaining Business Analytics certification include:
- Business analyst or business intelligence analyst
- Business development manager
- Market research analysts
- Digital marketing manager
- Strategists and others
What you’ll learn:
- Apply methods, tools, and software for managing and analyzing structured and unstructured data.
- Prepare data for statistical analysis, perform basic exploratory and descriptive analysis, and apply statistical techniques to analyze data.
- Apply descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics to business modeling and decision-making.
- We also expect successful learners to gravitate toward start-up organizations.
The program takes 1 year to complete and includes 4 courses.
Duration: 1 year
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $1,179
Course: Register Here
3. Advanced Business Analytics Specialization by CU
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU) is a public research university in the United States.
Advanced Business Analytics Specialization teaches real-world data analytics skills. How to use it to grow your business, increase profits, and maximize the value for your shareholders.
Students will gain practical skills in extracting and manipulating data using SQL code. How to execute statistical methods for predictive, and prescriptive analysis.
This course will train you in analytics practices used in the business world. It covers how is data created, stored and accessed. You’ll develop skills and understanding so that you will add value to your organization.
Learn how to develop and deliver business analysis with context, insight, and visualization.
See introduction video on Business Analytics Specialization course:
The classes take 4 months to complete.
Duration: 4 months
Level: Intermediate
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $49 per month
Course: Register Here
4. Data Analysis and Presentation Skills by PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a multinational professional services network with headquarters in the United Kingdom. PwC is one of the Big Four auditors in the world, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG.
This business analysis course for beginners will teach you how to get practical with data analysis. You’ll get an introduction to Data Analytics and its role in business decisions.
You will master problem-solving with Excel. Instruction of advanced Excel 2013 functions
Learn how to use Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and other common data analysis and communication tools.
You will master the presentation skills, to include insights and supporting data. You’ll also get familiar with some design principles for effective visuals and slides.
This is a great business analytics certification from one of the world’s largest consultants. You’ll learn new skills and boost your resume with the obtained certificate.
By the end of the course, you will gain skills in:
- Data Analysis
- Microsoft Excel
- Data Visualization (DataViz)
- Presentation
This course takes approximately 3 months to complete, depending on your pace.
Duration: 3 months
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $49 per month
Course: Register Here
5. Applied Data Science with Python Specialization by UM
The University of Michigan (UM) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
This skill specialization is a series of 5 courses. Applied Data Science course teaches data science through the python programming language.
This specialization is intended for learners who know basic python or have a programming background. You’ll learn to apply popular python toolkits like pandas, matplotlib, nltk, and networkx to business analysis.
The course will introduce you to:
- Data manipulation and cleaning techniques
- Information visualization basics, with a focus on reporting
- Applied machine learning, focusing more on the techniques
- Text mining and text manipulation basics
What you’ll learn:
- Analyze the connectivity of a social network
- Conduct an inferential statistical analysis
- Discern whether a data visualization is good or bad
- Enhance a data analysis with applied machine learning
This course takes 5 months to complete, depending on your schedule.
Duration: 5 months
Level: Intermediate
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $49 per month
Course: Register Here
6. Business Analytics Fundamentals by BABSON
Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Data analysis is critical for success in the current business world. Business analytics is an in-demand skill and top corporations are expanding their workforce to tackle increased demands for big data analysis.
This foundational course is for beginners. You will gain hands-on skills and knowledge to be able to analyze and present findings. By the end of this course, you will be able to offer valuable insights by recognizing, interpreting, and summarizing your company’s data.
The course covers key subjects related to business analytics including Data Collection, Data Visualizations, Descriptive Statistics, Basic Probability, Statistical Inference, and Creating Linear Models.
What you’ll learn
- Basic data types, sampling methods, surveys, and data visualization
- Popular descriptive statistics and basic probability concepts
- Inferential statistics such as confidence intervals and hypothesis testing
- Basic Excel modeling building for revenue, cost, and profit
- How to apply fundamental analytics to common business decisions
See a short video on Business Analytics Fundamentals course:
This beginner’s course is free to take, but you may want to add a verified certificate for $49. It takes 4 weeks to complete.
Duration: 4 weeks
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
7. Business Analytics Nanodegree from Udacity
This is a business analytics nanodegree program fro Udacity.
In this program, you will learn foundational data skills that apply across functions and industries. You’ll learn to analyze data and build models with Excel. How to query databases using SQL, and create informative data visualizations with Tableau.
This course is for beginners, so no prior experience required. You will need basic computer skills like managing files and navigating the Internet.
Business Analytics nanodegree is divided into 5 parts. Each part will have a respective practical project that has to be submitted. Students will have 1 on 1 mentor to guide on all course-related issues.
Successful completion of this program will need a commitment to stay on pace. You will have to complete projects, and finish the program within 3 months.
It takes 3 months to complete, with 10 hours per week study.
Duration: 3 months
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $1,077
Course: Register Here
8. Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies by Duke
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina.
This course teaches best practices for how to use data analytics to improve business performance. You will learn to recognize the critical business metrics and distinguish them from regular data.
With the gained knowledge you’ll be able to identify critical metrics for companies engaged in online marketing. Also, identify critical business metrics for financial service companies.
What you’ll learn
- Basics of business metrics.
- How to identify cash flow, profitability, and online retail.
- Distinguish revenue, profitability and risk metrics.
- How to identify critical business metrics.
- How to identify critical business metrics for financial services companies.
This is one of the shortest business analytics certifications on the list. The course will take 4 weeks, with about 3-5 hours of study per week.
Duration: 1 month (4 weeks)
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $49 per month
Course: Register Here
9. Strategic Business Analytics Specialization – ESSEC
ESSEC Business School is an international higher education institution. It is located in France, Singapore, and Morocco.
This course is designed for students, business analysts, and data scientists who plan to apply stats techniques to business. It may be interesting to experienced statisticians, analysts, and engineers who want to move into a business role.
It’s recommended to have knowledge:
- Background in statistics.
- R or another programming language.
- Familiarity with databases and data analysis techniques such as regression, classification, and clustering.
It will cover a wide variety of analytics approaches in different industry domains.
This course dives into hands-on case studies in real business contexts. The examples include predicting and forecasting events, statistical customer segmentation. Also calculating customer scores and lifetime value.
You will learn how to effectively present analysis to stakeholders for decision making. The study focuses on applications in different sectors including media, communications, public service.
You’ll get a Specialization Certificate from one of the world’s leading business schools. This is one of the better business analytics certifications you can get for the cost.
It will take around 3 months to complete with 6hr per week study.
Duration: 3 months
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $49 per month
Course: Register Here
10. Harvard Business Analytics Program
The Harvard Business Analytics Program is offered through a collaboration between Harvard Business School (HBS), the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).
This long course is designed for aspiring and established leaders in any industry. You are expected to have work experience and intermediate knowledge of analytics.
The 9-month program is divided into the following topics:
- Digital Strategy and Innovation
- Foundations of Quantitative Analysis
- Leadership, Innovation, and Change
- Operations and Supply Chain Management
- Programming and Data Science Systems
- Leadership and People Analytics
- Data-Driven Marketing
- Data Science Pipeline and Critical Thinking
What you’ll learn
- Sharpen your core data analysis and management skills.
- Explore emerging technologies and practices in blockchain, digital strategy, AI, ML.
- Learn how to interpret your findings and use them for valuable business insights.
- Gain competitive advantages in a data-driven world.
- Use data for predictive decision making.
- Understand basic programming, data architecture, and quantitative analysis.
Unlike other business analytics certifications on this list, this one does not come with a certificate. It is a usual practice from Harward’s own e-learning platform, as they only provide courses so far.
Duration: 9 months
Level: Intermediate
Certification: No
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
11. Statistics for Business Analytics and Data Science
This is a course is for beginners, who want to master statistics for business analytics. It is a practical training to teach you real-life examples of how to use statistics for your analysis.
You will gain essential knowledge of statistics that are used in advanced data analysis.
You will need a basic knowledge of high school math.
What you’ll learn
- Understand what a Normal Distribution is
- Understand standard deviations
- Explain the difference between continuous and discrete variables
- Understand what a sampling distribution is
- Understand the Central Limit Theorem
- Apply the Central Limit Theorem in practice
- Apply Hypothesis Testing for Means
- Apply Hypothesis Testing for Proportions
- Understand and apply statistical significance
- Create confidence intervals
It takes 3 months to complete, with 10 hours per week study.
Duration: 7 hours video (and 4 articles)
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $11.39
Course: Register Here
12. Excel to MySQL for Business by Duke University
This Specialization covers the use of powerful tools and methods such as Excel, Tableau, and MySQL to analyze data. How to create forecasts and models, design visualizations, and communicate your insights.
This business analytics course covers the best practices on how to improve company performance. Learn to recognize the most critical business metrics and distinguish them from mere data.
The focus of this course is on math – data-analysis concepts and methods – not on Excel for its own sake.
Business data analysts need the skill to communicate the implications of quantitative analyses. This is the reason why data visualization is vital when presenting results. You’ll master the skill of communicating business-relevant implications of data analyses.
By the end, you will know how to structure your data analysis projects to ensure the analysis will yield results for your stakeholders.
This course takes approximately 7 months to complete, depending on your pace.
Duration: 7 months
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: $49 per month
Course: Register Here
13. Marketing Analytics course by Columbia University
This is the MicroMasters program from Columbia University.
It is part of the Business Analytics MicroMasters program that is number 2 on this list of Business Analytics Certifications & Courses.
For marketers want to understand and forecast customer behavior with data analysis. Students will discover how to develop quantitative models that leverage business data.
Learn how to analyze data for:
- customer relationship management;
- market segmentation;
- value creation;
- communication;
- monetization.
You will learn how to use probabilistic models and optimization tools. Master modeling of demand forecasts, pricing sensitivity and how to leverage such data to make optimal decisions.
What you’ll learn:
- Demand forecasting using customer-base models and statistical approaches.
- Market segmentation methods and best practices. Identify potential customer segments and focused targeting.
- Computation of Customer Lifetime Value for analyzing customer. Brand loyalty and forecasting revenue in the short and long run.
- Factors to consider while designing and introducing new products to the market.
- Calculating Optimal Pricing for products and services to get the best ROI.
- Assessing Marketing ROI for making better and data-driven decisions.
The course is free to enroll, but getting a certificate costs $340. It will take 4 months to complete.
Duration: 4 months
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
14. Predictive Analytics for Business Applications by Edinburgh
This is the MicroMasters course from the University of Edinburgh. Founded in 1582 it’s the 6th oldest university in the English-speaking world.
MicroMasters programs are a series of graduate-level courses from top universities. They are designed to advance your career.
Learners who earn this MicroMasters program certificate can apply to the on-campus Masters in Business Analytics at the University of Edinburgh.
This is an advanced level course. You should be familiar with an undergraduate level or have a background in mathematics and statistics.
Previous experience with a procedural programming language is beneficial (e.g. Python, C, Java, Visual Basic).
You will explore the data discovery process in full detail. You’ll discover how we can make a connection between the predicting and predicted variables that are in the picture.
- Develop knowledge of the most popular and effective measure and sampling strategies.
- Implement effective measures and strategies to evaluate predictive models.
- Use evaluation concepts on datasets to determine the appropriateness and strength of techniques.
What you’ll learn:
- Identify various business settings in which predictive analytics can be used.
- To formulate a predictive model suitable for a broad range of problem scenarios.
- Build and use predictive models both for classification and regression problems.
- How to implement insights in Python.
- How to interpret predictive models to solve business problems.
This is one of the toughest business analytics certifications on the list. The program takes 1 year to complete and includes 5 courses.
Duration: 1 year
Level: Advanced
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: 1,350
Course: Register Here
15. Data Analytics for Business by Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia.
This business analytics course teaches the process of converting data into insights for better decision-making. It covers the methodologies and challenges related to analyzing business data.
The course will illustrate the processes of analytics with the use of examples. They will guide you on how to avoid the common pitfalls and apply correct techniques.
What you’ll learn
- To approach business problems from a BA perspective.
- How to use analytics to improve business performance.
- How to develop business analytics ideas.
- Business analytics software.
The course is free to enroll, but getting a certificate costs $500.
It will take approximately 4 months to complete.
Duration: 4 months
Level: Beginner
Certification: Yes
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
This was our list of 15 best Business Analytics Certifications and Courses. We hope you’ll find the best one for you.
Business Analytics usage is only taking off and is deemed to grow over time. There is a high demand from employers on jobs and limited supply at the moment. This is the reason it’s one of the better-paid jobs in the corporate market.
While business analytics can have many directions, these are the most common career jobs:
- Data Scientist (Computer Science related, Python and alike)
- Data Scientist (Analysis, Math and Statistics).
- Quantitative Analyst (Quant – financial markets, derivatives, etc)
- Data Business Analyst (Analysing business data, insights)
If you’re looking to improve your Excel skills first before diving into business analytics, check out our article about 10 Best Free Excel Training and Classes.
Good luck!
Here’s The Next Step…
Which of the courses above are you going to try?
Or maybe you have a question.
Let us know by leaving a comment below.
