What Does a Business Data Analyst Do? 2025 Career Guide

Business data analysts use the data analysis process to understand, interpret, and predict patterns in business and then use those data-driven insights to enhance their business practices. Essentially, business data analysts are data analysts who focus specifically on furthering key business goals.

Data analysts are in high demand in all sectors, including business and consulting, making this role an excellent choice if you are highly organised and have good attention to detail and strong communication skills.

Explore the tasks and responsibilities associated with business data analysts, the average salary you can anticipate making, and how to become a business data analyst.

What is a business data analyst?

A business data analyst aims to identify opportunities to grow, optimise, and improve an organisation’s business processes. You may oversee a specific area of business, such as supply chain management, customer service, or global trade practices, or you could take a more holistic view of the company across all departments and locations. 

Business data analysts tend to work on solving issues similar to those that a business analyst might aim to solve, and they use similar skills in their approach. You’ll find some essential differences between business data analysts and business analysts that you'll need to know:

Conceptual and analytical skills: 

• Business data analysts are more involved with identifying problems.

• Business analysts typically work with problems that have already been determined.

Technical skills:

• Business data analysts use database tools like Excel and SQL and programming languages like R and Python to collect and analyse new data sets.

• Business analysts typically work with data sets that others prepare for them.

This three-minute video from Duke University’s Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies class—the first course in the Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business Specialisation—offers more information about the differences between business data analysts and business analysts.

Business data analyst tasks and responsibilities

A business data analyst’s responsibilities lie at the intersection of data analysis and business analysis. Therefore, their job description tends to look like a combination of both roles.

Some tasks you might see in a business data analyst job description are:

• Develop and deploy dashboards to collect automated data-backed insights

• Gather, interpret, and report on key business data sets

• Deliver insights on potential areas of growth, optimisation, and improvements

• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs)

• Work cross-departmentally on data-driven strategies that improve business processes and decision-making

What tools do business data analysts use?

Business data analysts use a number of tools throughout the data analysis process to aid in efficiency and accuracy. Some standard tools include:

• Microsoft Excel

• SQL

• Python

• R

• Tableau

• Alteryx

• Microsoft Power BI

Business data analyst salary and job outlook

Salary estimates differ from one career site to another. Review various sites to get a feel for what you can earn. For example, as of July 2024, the average salary for a business data analyst in the UK is £42,084, according to Glassdoor [1]. Meanwhile, Indeed reports the average for business analysts, a closely related title, as £45,592 [2]. However, it’s also essential to remember that your salary as a business data analyst can vary depending on factors such as years of experience, location, and industry.

Also notable is that the demand for data analysts across sectors remains high, with positions available in business and consultancy, government, and education, to name a few.

How to become a business data analyst

You’ll discover many paths toward becoming a business data analyst. One path might include formal education. Companies looking to hire a business data analyst often want candidates to have a degree—ideally in business, information systems, information management, maths, computer science, or a related area. For higher-level roles, some companies may look for candidates with a postgraduate degree in a related field, like business analytics or data science, but it’s only occasionally a requirement.

Whether you’re entering the workforce for the first time, considering a career change, or levelling up on your current path, the first step toward recognising your qualifications is assessing the transferable skills you have, as well as the skills you’ll need to build.

Business data analyst technical skills

Technical skills, sometimes called “hard skills,” refer to the specialised knowledge and skills required to perform your daily job functions. Some technical skills business data analysts rely on are:

• Database tools: Many data analysts use Microsoft Excel and SQL to collect and organise data.

• Programming languages: Analysts use R and Python to clean, manipulate, and analyse data.

• Data visualisation: Analysts use tools like Tableau and Microsoft Power BI to translate their data into visual insights.

• Business analysis: Understanding how businesses function is vital to recognising potential areas of improvement.

Business data analyst workplace skills

Workplace skills, sometimes called “soft skills,” relate to how you work and socialise with colleagues. Some workplace skills business data analysts use include:

• Communication and collaboration: Analysts often work cross-departmentally to influence decision-makers and key stakeholders with their data-driven suggestions.

• Prioritisation and organisation: Analysts may face competing workflows, manage multiple projects simultaneously, or analyse multiple data sets simultaneously.

• Curiosity: Business data analysts often find success when they have an interest in the issues they explore and allow their curiosity to guide them.

• Creativity: Since data isn’t always readily available, data analysts often have to get creative with the way they collect and interpret data.

• Self-motivation: In addition to collaborative moments, data analysts also spend time working independently with their data sets and research.

Keep learning with Coursera

Business data analysts use data to inform business decisions and support strategic goals. Since both business and data analysis are critical to a business data analyst’s success, you’ll need foundational knowledge in each area as you pursue this career path. Depending on where you are in your journey, you may want to focus on building different skill sets.

Learn data analysis: Get job-ready for data analysis roles with the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate. Over roughly six months, you’ll get hands-on experience with data cleaning, problem-solving, and data visualisation using R and SQL.

Learn business analysis: To practise applying data analysis to business situations, try the Business Analytics Specialisation from the University of Illinois Gies College of Business. With these six courses, part of the iMBA program, you’ll use tools such as RStudio, Power BI, and Alteryx to develop data-driven business solutions.

Level up: Take your business analysis skills to the next level with Duke University’s Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business Specialisation. Over five courses, you’ll learn how to analyse, visualise, and manage data using tools such as Excel, Tableau, and MySQL.