Analytics Training Part 2- What to look for in a business analytics course?

Business Analytic Courses are the new tulips of the statistical education industry. It has become a bit difficult for the average student to choose between the various providers of business analytics, given their differing background, platforms , and even the pricing.So what are the characteristics that a person interested in analytics training should choose for when selecting to upgrade and fine tune their understanding of business analytics skills.

These are some of the important traits that have helped me learn and unlearn from teachers good, bad and indifferent in the domain of business analytics.

1) Feedback from previous students and testimonials from partners– Hindsight may be twenty twenty, but word of mouth is one of the key differences that surrounds good and bad trainers. Thanks to the Internet – bad reviews and good reviews are easier to dig for than in earlier days.An ideal approach is to ask for references from the training institute rather than rely on the 100% positive claims on the website.

2) Pedigree of business analytics trainer – Is it balanced equally within statistics and programming? Which platform is the trainer most familiar with? Is it balanced between industry practise and academic rigor? How many years of experience of training do the trainers have?

Is training the main business or just a side activity of the institute conducting the training? Questions like these can help nail down the pedigree of the business analytics trainer. The pedigree of the trainer will determine the rigor of the training. Generally trainers are biased in offering the view of business analytics training as they have seen it experience it , and how they have seen it unfold it over the years. A trainer who has mostly worked with financial services analytics is quite different from a trainer who has worked in telecom or pharmaceutical analytics. It depends on what domain the student is interested in working in next.

3) Programming Platform – Business Analytics is a healthy mix of statistics, business domain knowledge and programming skills. It is critical to identify the feasibility of the business analytics programming platform that you wish to be trained in and how that platform’s current and future growth prospects fit in the career plans of the student. A good indicator of stability of programming platform are job sites like Indeed.com and Monster.com . A simple search with that particular programming platform or business analytics environment would help you verify the claim in which platform is here to stay in business analytics.

4) Negative Flags- Some poor experiences with business analytics education and other types of education I have seen are mostly by fraudulent, exaggerated and hugely inflated claims about what will be accomplished by that particular course of study. A Business Analytics course can help you as a starting point, but any claims of huge successes, job guarantees, or massive salary increases following re-skilling have to be investigated by the consumer and prospective student. In my experience , people who are savvy in marketing aggressively are rarely savvy in transferring their knowledge in the classroom. Boasting in marketing claims is a definite negative flag for this kind of relatively expensive education.

5) Certifications by Industry- Generally trainers who are themselves certified by Industry or Analytics Vendors are much better trainers than non certified trainers. This is particularly critical if you desire to eventually get certified in business or web analytics yourself.

Eventually Business Analytics Training is a fast emerging business, and caveat emptor- or buyer beware is one of the oldest and still the best advice for people investing in business analytics training for themselves or their teams.