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Master’s in Business Analytics Improves Your Decision-Making Skills as a Leader

Master’s in business analytics equips you with tools such as data visualization that would be considered very underrated in decision-making. As a leader, decision-making is something that is one of the top skills, a decision from you as a leader can even make or break your project. You need to weigh all your options and study all the parameters before finalizing a decision. This can be done better by using data visualization. Let us understand more about how data visualization can help you in decision-making. But it is important to note that data visualization is a skill that helps not just the leadership but also at entry level jobs. It helps to develop this skill if you are planning to eventually consider get into management or leadership roles.

What is data visualization?

Data visualization is one of the key components in the curriculum of a business analytics course. As the name suggests it is a pictorial or a graphical representation of data. Its purpose is to make data more comprehensive and accessible. It allows decision-makers to identify and comprehend trends, anomalies, and patterns in data, making the decision-making process easier. There are different types of data visualization:

  1. Temporal representation: These are one-dimensional linear visualizations with a start and end time, similar to a time series, that depict project timetables.
  2. Multidimensional representation: These typical data visualizations show data in two or more dimensions. Pie charts, histograms, and scatter plots are some examples.
  3. Hierarchical representation: These diagrams depict how groups interact with one another. Tree diagrams are a type of hierarchical representation that depicts the relationship between parent and child classes.
  4. Network models: Network visualizations depict the relationships between data sets in a network. A node-link diagram, also known as a network graph, for example, is an illustration of how items are connected using nodes and link lines.

How does data visualization help businesses grow?

As a leader, data plays a more crucial role than one might admit. Having an effective mechanism to see and comprehend data is vital. The most effective approach for firms to make decisions is to perform extensive research and analyze different aspects that impact the decisions based on the facts provided. Data presented visually can be easier to understand and allow individuals to gain insights more rapidly. This can assist you in identifying trends, comprehending the frequency of events, and tracking the links between operations and performance.

One of the top courses for learning data visualization would be the Global Master of Science in Business Analytics (Global MS in Business Analytics) from the Richard DeVos Graduate School of Management. This course helps you develop critical skills to present analytics as a “story” that translates data into action. To become better leaders and team builders, it is important to use real data to create new opportunities to gain a competitive advantage. This program has a separate module for data visualization which is called data management, organization, and visualization. It extensively covers using visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps to provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data by producing images that communicate relationships among the represented data. Additionally, it focuses on analyzing the visualized data for sound decision-making. This master’s in business analytics program is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) certified program for Optional Practical Training (OPT) purposes. This allows the graduates of the program to apply for an additional 24 months of extension of OPT. You will be eligible to participate in the US OPT (Optional Practical Training) program for F-1 students upon the completion of your master’s of business analytics degree, allowing you to stay in the US while you start your career in business analytics.  Although this degree is not meant just for an executives but also for freshers in business analytics.

Advantages of data visualization

One might wonder, what makes data visualization so important for leaders. Here are some advantages of data visualization.

1. Analyzing information easily

Visualized data is processed more efficiently and in less time than manually analyzing bundles of information. The manual analysis takes a long time as you have to organize data, read it through, and spot trends in it are all time-intensive tasks that can significantly delay decision-making. Thus, it is easier to learn data visualization which does the same job but cuts down the working time significantly.

2. Identifying trends

Seeing recurring data in sheets and numbers can go unnoticed a lot of times in large data sets. But when you put the same data in a histogram or on a graph the hidden trends and patterns present themselves automatically. Hence, representing data pictorially and visually allows us to map numerous reports at once, making it simpler to discover trends among the various pieces of information accessible.

3. Pointing out the actionable items

As a leader, your main task is to use the data for taking the right actions. Data visualization assists you in mapping diverse bits of information and discovering trends among them. In an organization, it is important to identify areas of strength and weakness. This will let you divert the effort on the weaker areas and extract maximum output from the strengths. How data visualization leads to better decision-making Now that you have understood data visualization properly

4. Manage time effectively

Every day, a vast quantity of data is collected, from which businesses must choose what is valuable to them and what may be discarded. Managers are frequently forced to make key judgments in short periods of time due to the quick pace of business. Even a minor delay in decision-making might result in the organization missing out on a fantastic opportunity, or a minor problem can become exponentially worse overnight. Data visualization may help you quickly extract useful insights from large volumes of data. Even a basic representation, such as a bar graph, may provide useful insights in a short amount of time.

5. Enhance the accuracy of judgments

Collecting and efficiently examining all of the figures is not always a viable choice, especially when dealing with a vast amount of data. However, verifying facts becomes crucial in order to prevent making decisions based on assumptions and stereotypes. While big data provides decision-makers with all of the information they need, it is not often presented in an easily digestible style. Data visualization simplifies information, reducing the need to fill in the gaps with your own views.

6. Impactful communication

Following a decision, you must effectively express your views to those who will carry out the next stages. Data visualization is a method of effectively communicating data while also making the meaning comprehensible to the audience via the use of visuals. Furthermore, pictures tend to stick in the thoughts of the audience longer than vocal conversations or data ever does.

7. Establish a culture of collaboration

Every member of the team participating in a certain activity must have some involvement in the decision-making process of any organization. Leaders should always solicit the opinions of people in order to improve their decision-making process. Data visualization offers people the skills to build better-informed ideas and empowers them to contribute their perspectives in the decision-making process by offering access to relevant information. This not only brings the organization’s members together but also allows everyone to express their opinions and ideas.

8. Make data-driven decisions

We can map many reports at once by representing data visually and graphically, making it easier to detect trends among the various pieces of information available. This allows a company to simply identify its strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed. As a result, a company may readily keep track of the elements that contributed to its success and those that contributed to its failure. This is critical for effective decision-making.

Conclusion

Effective decision-making needs thorough data analysis, better peer communication, and significant brainstorming. As a result, adopting innovative technologies such as data visualization can assist you in making sound business decisions. A good business analysis degree equips you with such tools and allows you to work even more efficiently.

FAQs

A master’s in business analytics (MSBA) includes a set of disciplines and technologies for solving business problems using data analysis, statistical models, and other quantitative methods.

Here are some common jobs that people apply for after a master’s in business analytics: machine learning engineer, data architect, data analyst, chief technology officer (CTO), chief data officer (CDO), and project manager.

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