Thinking of taking your venture to the next level in 2024? No time for a long-term course and no pennies to spare for research? Your best go-to option would be – Books! Of course, the cheapest and the most reliable source of knowledge. If you are that hustler, with a visionary state of mind, then you are in the right place. There are galore options to explore, and here are some picks of the best business analytics books in 2024, curated just for you.
Before we share the top business analytics books, let us understand what is business analytics.
Business Analytics:
Now again, what is Business analytics? Business Analytics attributed to the skillset and technologies used in assessing past business performances and aids in business planning.
In a nutshell, it is an essential component of your entrepreneurial toolbox as it integrates data analyzing tools and methods to formulate improved decisions in business.
Now, what is the story of business analytics? How did it evolve? History says the first time data was used was back in the 1800s by Sir Henry Furness. Mr. Richard Miller in his book scripts about how this banker made use of data to stay ahead of his competitors.
Then in the late 1800’s, Frederick Taylor came up with the premier system of the same. Moving on in the 1950’s with the coming of hard disk drives, businesses were able to store data with much better flexibility. Then the late 1900s witnessed the emergence of the idea of Business Intelligence. Again, Business Intelligence solutions were offered by different companies; IBM, Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft in the New Millenium.
Business Analytics in 2005, accounted mainly for the introduction of new tools and speed improvement at which the data was available to the public. BA in 2005-2022 witnessed the rise of Cloud Computing, wherein companies relied on several machines at the same time, to store data.
As of late, 2023, saw a transition to a cooperative methodology, and one which is more focused. The trends in business analytics as of today are AI and Machine Learning Integration, Analytics of Big Data, Analytics based on Cloud computing, Predictive Analytics, and Prescriptive Analytics.
Top 25 Must-Read Business Analytics Books In 2024
1. Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread From the Data:
Charles Wheelan, a renowned author in his book elaborates the statistics in a raw manner and discusses the covert intuition that propels statistics. He expresses his individuality here by relating statistics to fun and amusement.
Further, the author presents the subject devoid of its complexity, in a much simpler manner. Also, he does a good job, of illustrating real-world examples. This book is a good read for anyone looking to fill in the conceptual gaps.
It is a piece of work for anyone looking for the basics of statistics. Again, while delving into the topic, the writer maintains a low-key nature throughout the work.
2. Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know About Data Mining and Data Analytic Thinking:
Authored by Tom Fawcett and Foster Provost, it portrays examples of realistic business problems and discusses about fundamental ethics of data science. The book is directed to those who thirst to understand the science and mining of data more broadly and also to those who want to upskill themselves in data analytic thinking.
On completion of this book, the reader will be able to visualize data science opportunities, understand proposals for data science operations and investments, alongside be able to hash out data science intelligently.
3. Business Analytics: Data Analysis and Decision Making:
Specially compiled for students, this book follows a learn-by-example technique and can help to progress in data analysis. If you are new to data mining this might be the right pick among many other business analytics books.
Additionally, this compilation also helps to study how to import data to Excel and also deals with tools that belong to the class of Business Analytics Umbrella. Curated by S.Christian Albright and Wayne Winston this book is a treasure house for those wanting to master data analysis, spreadsheets and modeling.
4. Data Analytics: The Ultimate Guide to Data Analytics:
A bestselling business analytics book that delivers insights about the methodologies to use data to enhance the competency level, boost growth, and increment sales. This book by Edward Mize is an excellent guide for beginners in data analytics. With this book, data analytics is going to be a piece of cake for you. It offers practical examples to fix the holes when executing operations, marketing, and sales. (Don’t be confused, as a data analytics book classifies under business analytics books because data analytics in business is business analytics.)
5. Data Analytics: Become a Master in Data Analytics:
By Richard Dorsey, this book opens a secret door into the world of data analytics and helps you navigate through different types of data analytics. Throughout you will be able to understand approaches such as time series, regression, and decision trees.
The writer has crafted the topics in an easily understandable manner, making it one of the best business analytics books of all time. Again, Dorsey also instructs the readers to accept challenges and to avoid taking risks whilst data analytical operations are performed. Also, the author emphasizes how challenging data analytics is throughout his book.
6. Marketing Analytics: Data Driven Techniques with Microsoft Excel:
If you are in the hunt for the best business analytics books that would equip you with tactics to process and use data in a cost-effective manner, this book is right for you. This will turn you into a pro at the game. By using Microsoft Excel this record assists in solving specific problems using analytical techniques.
The document will specialize you in Excel charts and functions and will make you the leader in your journey. The script covers a wide variety of topics like social media, viral marketing, and ideas for marketing analytics. Manuscript by Wayne L Winston, it is for sure not to disappoint you.
7. From Big Data to Big Profits: Success with Data and Analytics:
In this volume, Russell Walker scrutinizes the usage of Big Data to initiate innovations in the growth of business. All along the writer analyses Big Data and the monetary benefits it can provide. Pointing at examples like Apple, Netflix, Google, Amazon, Zillow, LinkedIn, Walker navigates how the digital world has been changing consumer interactions and how Big Data is utilized by companies.
8. Lean Analytics:
Penned by Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz, this one among business analytics books is a treasure trove for all those entrepreneurs who are in the race to build a startup with the help of business analytics. This book will prove to be a suitable tool to steer your startup from an idea to an ideal product. The 30 real-life case studies are a major highlight of this book.
Furthermore, as icing on the top, it also includes interviews with palmy startup entrepreneurs as well as investors. The book is mainly divided into four parts; the first part introduces the reader to analytical thinking, followed by the second part which deals with a synopsis of key metrics and standards to pay attention to for six varying business models.
The third and fourth parts deal with the description of various types of data that an individual will sustain throughout the lifecycle of a startup and different techniques to establish data-driven decision-making in a company, respectively.
9. Business Intelligence for Dummies:
The name may feel foolish, but the book will not. A bestseller, authored by Swain Scheps, this book is referred to by people who have just begun their journey in the world of data analytics. Powered by detailed explanations of the basic postulates of data science alongside multiple real-world models, and hence provides essential practical knowledge.
Adding on, the author has been careful enough to take a step-by-step approach to help the reader understand complex business analytics methods. From this book, you will be able to utilize Business Intelligence(BI) tools to forecast and make decisions and learn fundamental theories to design and generate your BI master plan.
10. Business Intelligence Guidebook: From Data Integration to Analytics:
In this book, Rick Sherman has gone into the details of the whole arena of Business Intelligence topics. He provides a crystal clear interpretation of architectural design and different processes within the framework of BI.
He has provided a written manual for constructing BI with practices and solutions that aid readers to get started. A companion website is included for further references, examples and templates. This book assists readers in navigating their way through data integration and analytics.
11. Business Intelligence in Plain Language: A Practical Guide to Data Mining and Business Analytics:
Jeremy Kolb, in this book, has prepared a commendable primer to introduce the readers to the theories of Business Intelligence. He further goes on to explain the benefits of harnessing BI, and also how the process works in simple terms so that everyone can understand it.
As one of the top-read in business analytics books, it covers various topics like Data Mining, Data Warehousing, Data discovery, Data Transformation and much more.
12. Data Science for Business:
This one takes its place among the best business analytics books, based on one of the MBA courses offered at New York University, Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett this book has presented real-life business problems to aid the reader.
By the end of this book, one will be able to improve communication between stakeholders in business, and data scientists and also be a part of the organization’s data science undertakings. Grab it and educate yourself to think in a data analytical manner and also on how data science can support in decision-making in business.
13. Business Analytics: A Practitioner’s Guide:
With this book, one can delve into the practical side of analytics in business. This book perfectly guides through between real-world application and theory, as case studies and firsthand examples. It will particularly help people working in the analytics sector, the managers and leaders responsible for using and sponsoring analytics, and also those working with and supporting the business analytics crew.
14. Storytelling with Data:
As straightforward as the name sounds, this book simply tells how one can utilize data to create a compelling story. Cole Nussbaumer in this book provides insights which are useful for those communicating with data. The insights given in this book can be employed with every type of data visualization tool such as Excel, Google Spreadsheets, Adobe Illustrator, or Tableau.
15. Behind Every Good Decision: How Anyone Can Use Business Analytics to Turn Data into Profitable Insight:
A bestseller, here, the authors Priyanka Jain and Puneet Sharman show, how pros at say- every level can gather information and utilize it to formulate better decisions. The book lists five steps for the process with the help of a single tool- Excel.
Readers will be able to learn how a business question can be clarified, form a hypothesis, collect essential data, and how to convert it (collected data) into insights. This is one of those business analytics books that also comes with a bunch of examples and exercises. With this book in your hand, you have the solution to 80 per cent of all your business problems! Yes! only 80 per cent, we don’t give false promises.
16. Predictive Analytics for Dummies:
Anasse Bari, Mohamed Chaouchi, and Tommy Chung together have culminated a piece of work that investigates the strength of predictive analytics and how it is used in the making of valuable predictions of business, otherwise, fraud detection, advertising, politics and much more. The book also concentrates on nuts and bolts themes such as the basics of predictive analytics, how to use structured & unstructured data, and mining of data along with techniques and algorithms to analyze data.
17. Taxman’s Business Analytics:
Well-versed with fundamental concepts and techniques that are specialized, along with ethical considerations, this business analytic book is curated by H.K Dangi and Gurveen Kaur. In their work, they have emphasized the crucial role of data in today’s evolutionary business landscape.
While focusing on the practical aspects of business analytics, it also balances out a solid theoretical foundation. Real-world case studies, and hands-on samples, are all incorporated into the book. It is sure to enlighten the readers in strategic thinking and data-driven decision-making. Topics include but are not limited to, Predictive Analytics, Getting started with R, Data Preparation, Data Summarisation, and Visualisation.
18. Fundamentals of Business Analytics:
RN Prasad & Seema Acharya have together curated this piece typically for beginners from the management and engineering discipline. The book embraces introductory knowledge of business intelligence and is firstly a college-level book.
The book is said to contain areas of business intelligence such as enterprise context, and the usage of tools. It discusses the problems that BI can work out while covering the complete life process of a BI/Analytics Project. And, the best part is that this one comes with a CD to guarantee the practice of concepts for thorough understanding.
19. Business Analytics Principles, Concepts, and Applications: What, Why, and How:
Specially curated for amateurs in Business Analytics, this book by Marc J. Schneiderjans, Dara G. Schneiderjans, and Christopher M. Starkey culminates into an integrated comprehension package. Up-to-date information on the concept of business analytics, how important it is, and essentially how it is put into use, is gathered while crafting this work.
It offers a wide curriculum on the usage of tools, techniques, and methodologies required for the modern implementation of business analytics leads. Common challenges are addressed with step-by-step examples. It also illustrates the real-life use of information systems and statistical and management science techniques.
20. Modern Business Analytics:
A real-life contemporary approach to business analytics and data science is seen in this script. Authored by Matt Taddy, Leslie Hendrix, and Matthew Harding, this is one of those business analytics books that makes use of R as prime technology. It makes use of tools from the stream of Economics and Statistics combined with machine learning techniques. A major highlight is that it seeks to comprehend the “why” in the decision-making discussions in comparison with other business analytics books.
21. Competing on Analytics :
By Thomas H Davenport & Jeanne G. Hariss, this piece of work is for those wanting to grip the art of analytical thinking and leverage it to transform the basic data of a business into a competitive edge. Specially gathered for readers in the corporate sector, it experiments to explore the best of analytics and is one of the must-reads in the category of business analytics books.
The authors have done a tremendous job of accumulating the different ways of establishing competitive strategies in this book. This business analytics book briefly tells you how much importance data has in today’s business. Alongside, it also talks about the acceleration of product innovation and regularization of logistics.
22. Essentials of Business Analytics:
Authored by BhimaShankaram Pothi Raju and Sredhar Seshadhari, it is primarily designed to be employed as a guidebook for long-term business analytics studies. Along with practitioners, it can act as a guide.
This work is an amalgamation of specialists from top-notch industries and universities. The material covers topics such as Models, Tools & Applications. Briefly speaking, every chapter in the book begins by addressing various problems in business and ends by deriving a business solution for the same.
23. Business Analytics: An Overview:
This one authored by Prof. Dr R. Gopal, Dr Priya Vij, Dr Adveta Gharat, and Dr Alpha Lokhande explores, cornerstone concepts of business intelligence, major principles of business analytics, the importance of digital data in decision-making and so much more.
Specially crafted for professionals, enthusiasts, and students, who want to understand the profound scenes of business analytics. Every chapter contributes to an integral understanding of the intersecting subjects i.e. data and business. Simply speaking, this book takes you through a journey across the realm of data-driven decision-making alongside its reframing impact on modern enterprises.
24. Business Intelligence and Analytics:
This book, authored by Ramesh Sharda, Dursun Delen, and Efraim Turban, is a total game changer. It is one-of-a-kind among business analytics books wherein it is a cutting-edge guide to modern revolutionary management support setups technologies and displays how they can be utilized for better decision-making.
The 10th edition of the book concentrates upon Business Intelligence and analytics to support enterprise decision. This guide will help you expand your understanding of different types of analytics by offering examples, services, products, and exercises, by conversing about internet-related issues.
25. Business Analytics for Professionals:
Alp Ustundag, Emre Cevikcan, and Omer Faruk Beyca have together accumulated this text, wherein techniques and concepts for business analytics are demonstrated in real-world applications. The book illustrates how intelligent business automation systems are implemented using optimization systems and machine learning. It also delves into business problems concerned with marketing & CRM, supply chain, financial, and human resources functions.
FAQs
Q1. Name the different types of business analytics.
The four different types of business analytics include descriptive, diagnostic, prescriptive and predictive.
Q2. Is it true that business analytics is full of mathematics?
One should possess a solid foundation in maths, especially statistics is a necessity for success in business analytics.
Q3. What are the qualifications required to become a business analyst?
Qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in any of the relevant fields such as finance, business, economics, IT, or a related industry.
Q4. Are Business Analysts paid well?
The highest salary package offered is that of 17 lakhs per annum.
Q5. What are the different types of job roles in business analytics?
Different job roles include Financial Analyst, Consultant, Programmer Analyst, Computer Systems Analyst, Business Analyst, and many more.
Conclusion:
Long story short, Business Analytics helps make informed business decisions with the help of quantitative methods, statistical models, and data analysis. Business Analytics was there, then, and now and will be. Taking down a degree in this field is in no way a loss, as you are going to move with the future. It makes you future-ready!