What do you know about business data analytics?

Clinical Assistant Professor of Information Systems, Kathleen Moser, stresses the importance of data analytics knowledge for non-business majors.

Corporate recruiters have come up with a new, tough question for students: what do you know about business data analytics? The reason they ask is virtually every business needs employees who can interpret data. It turns out that the W. P. Carey School has a certificate for that.

KnowIT: Corporate recruiters have come up with a new, tough question for students: what do you know about business data analytics? The reason they ask is that business has changed, says Kathleen Moser, clinical assistant professor of information systems. That’s because it’s now possible to gather massive amounts of data about virtually everything.

Kathleen Moser: The need right now is, what can we do with all of this data, so that we keep our customers loyal to us and we keep our market share?

KnowIT: Data can provide organizations with the information they need to make smart decisions.

Moser: All kinds of industries need to know where they’re going, and they need data to do it.

KnowIT: In the Department of Information Systems, undergraduates can major in computer information systems or business data analytics. Both degrees give students depth understanding of how information technology can improve business processes and decision making. Think of them as the scientists, Moser said. But in today’s environment, virtually everybody in the company needs to understand data.

Moser: I’m a firm believer that your data is the heart of your organization. At some point it doesn’t matter what major you are, accounting or finance or law, you are going to touch a data base. And the more knowledge you have about what to do with that data now that you know where to get it, that’s going to be just unbelievably advantageous.

KnowIT: That’s why the W. P. Carey School of Business offers the Certificate in Applied Business Data Analytics, an 18-credit hour program open to any ASU student regardless of major. Moser teaches in the program.

Moser: There are a lot of students who are taking advantage of this now who are non-business majors that see: ‘Whatever I’m doing I know I’m going to touch data, I would like to learn what’s going on.’

KnowIT: Courses that comprise the certificate include Computer Applications and Information Technology, Advanced Excel in Business, Business Process Management, Business Project Management, Business Intelligence and Statistics. Students go deep into Excel, and are exposed to other computer-based tools that enable them to analyze data.

Moser: Visualization using Tableau where you do bubble things, is really what you need to see to look at the strategic path of the organization. You need to show it in a picture; everybody responds to pictures. And when you can do that and then describe what’s going on with the picture, then the light bulbs start going on and the world just opens up.

KnowIT: The insights that result are critical to success.

Moser: The really exciting thing is that prescriptive analytics, where you have streams of data coming in real-time, and that will cause decisions to be made for your company to change it in the next five minutes, not five months. That’s the exciting part about it.

KnowIT: Companies that cannot turn on a dime simply cannot compete, which explains why employers are looking for skills in data analytics.

Moser: Well, of course the students would ask them ‘what background do we need to have?’ You need to know the foundation: where is the data, where does it come from; so the relational database. And then from there, we’ll teach you the rest. But, if you don’t know that, we don’t have time to teach you. And that’s what this certificate does. It gives you that foundation so that you can now dream with the companies, wherever you want to go.

KnowIT: For more information about the Certificate in Applied Business Data Analytics, see wpcarey.asu.edu.