Business Analyst vs Data Analyst – Similarities & Differences

Though often used interchangeably yet business analyst and data analyst are not the same. Both streams deal with business data and play a pivotal role in driving business decisions. Data Science is the all-encompassing umbrella term that includes all streams of business information studies. Data Analytics and Business Analytics are two prominent sub-brackets of Data Science. Although these two roles complement each other there are certain intrinsic differences between the two as well. Here we take a guiding tour into a comparative study on business analyst vs data analyst.

What does a business analyst do?

Business analysts assimilate and analyse diverse busiliness data to gain insights on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and overall performance of a business. These include sales statistics, consumer behavioural trends, market research models, and financial figures.
Part of their role also covers predicting the future of the business organization based on the insights collected. The predictions are torchbearers to the trends that are about to influence the entity. That puts the business on an advantageous position, enabling it to take measured risks and informed decisions.
Here are the key pointers that will help to understand the job role of a business analyst:

• Assessing a company’s on-going functionalities and IT infrastructure
• Process review and first-hand feedback from teams to predict areas wanting improvement
• Preparing reports and presenting the same before the management and recommending changes
• Designing innovative visuals and models based on financial findings to help business decisions
• Updating staff on latest systems through in-house training

What does a data analyst do?

A data analyst assimilates, edits, analyses, visualises, and represents organised data to empower informed business decisions. The goal is to guide corporate decisions to a progressive track and enable the management to launch the best course of action.
Here are the key pointers that will help to understand the job role of a data analyst:

• Working in tandem with the business heads and shareholders to address a corporate glitch
• Recognising and initiating data
• Editing and customising data for analysis
• Checking and understanding data for predicting trends
• Visualising data to make it more reader-friendly
• Presenting data in form of an engaging report

Key similarities between business analyst and data analyst

Is data analyst and business analyst same? Well, both the streams share a bunch of similarities but there are also differences. We will discuss the similarities first and then move on to the difference between data analyst and business analyst.

Both belong to Data Science

The fundamental similarity between data analysis and business analysis is that they both are two parallel streams of data science. Both streams cover business data or corporate information.


Both drive business decisions

Both process the data and deduce inferences from it to steer informed business decisions that can offer constructive outcomes. Both roles are crucial in the life of any business organization, assure great job security, and carry generous pay packages.


Both demand analytical and programming skills

Both streams demand professionals with high analytical skills, and sharp knowledge of SQL and other programming languages. Besides, whether you are a data or business analyst, you should hold expertise in data dissection and concluding effective business observations.


Both demand communication skills

Both roles demand outstanding communication skills for optimsing crucial business information to corporate advantage. Both play a mutually benefiting part in each other’s key responsibility area, coming up with unpredicted solutions to each other’s data challenges.

To be a skilled business analyst, a data professional should first be a skilled data analyst. Join our data analyst course online to receive an industry-leading certification in data analytics.

Key differences between business analyst vs data analyst

The basic difference between business analyst and data analyst is that while both use data to infer business decisions business analysts are more focussed on solving corporate questions data analysts deal with data in a more detailed fashion.
In other words business analysts work in close tandem with the management advising the administration to zero in on the correct decision as required for the moment. Data analysts are more minutely concerned with the collection, synchronization, analysis, observation and deducing inferences from big data. As per economics business analysis is the macro aspect of data science while data analytics is the micro part.
To be more exact some of the important technical differences between the two terms are as follows:

Data Analyst	Business Analyst
A Data Analyst assimilates and explains data.	A Business Analyst collects, authenticates, and presents insights into business demands.
A Data Analyst analyses and presents reports and results to different stakeholders.	A Business Analyst analyses commercial information and also accounts for costs and savings.
A Data Analyst studies patterns and trends in data sets.	A Business Analyst channelizes corporate processes.
A Data Analyst dictates new data collection and data analysis processes.	A Business Analyst recognizes problems, risks, and advantages of present and latest solutions - apart from designing and implementing functional specifications for solutions.
Business Analysts work in close cooperation with the other half of the workforce to derive business data.	Data Analysts can work more independently.

Top Job Roles for data analysts and business analysts

When it comes to Business analyst vs data analyst jobs, data analysts carry a comparatively broader scope.

Top job roles for a data analyst

• Data Analyst
• Business Analyst
• Market Research Analyst
• Financial Analyst
• Business Intelligence Analyst
• Data Visualisation Specialist

Top job roles for a business analyst

• Business Analyst
• Functional Analyst
• Marketing Specialist
• Business Intelligence Analyst
• Market Research Analyst

Regarding business analyst vs data analyst salary, data analysts usually receive a higher salary given their broader scope of job. While the average highest salary of a data analyst can cross ₹ 25.0 Lakhs, it is less than ₹ 20.0 Lakhs for busines analysts.

Conclusion

Both business analytics and data analytics extend excellent career goals. If you are aiming for a high-paying career that can also assure job security, you can join our data analyst and business analyst certification programs. Our courses are followed by internship opportunities and placement assistance to help you get your dream job.

Q1: What is the difference between data analyst and business analyst ?

Ans: A data analyst gathers and analyses data to infer business solutions while a business analyst uses those inferences to influence management decisions.

Q2: Can a data analyst become a business analyst?

Ans: Yes, one can which expands one’s work horizons. Data analysis is the basics on which business analysis expertise is built.

Q3: Who earns more data analyst or business analyst?

Ans: Data analysts and business analysts earn close to each other depending on their years of experience and expertise. Data analysts earn from INR 13 LPA to 25 LPA while business analysts start from INR 9 LPA on an average.

Q4: Which is better: data analyst or business analyst?

Ans: Both careers require a certain degree of technical and soft skills like programming language proficiency and communication powers. Data analytics is basic knowledge which guides your choice of a multifaceted big data career depending on your aptitude.