The following is an excerpt from “Guide to Business Data Analytics (IIBA member only):”

Business data analytics is a specific set of techniques, competencies, and practices applied to perform continuous exploration, investigation, and visualization of business data. The desired outcome of a business data analytics initiative is to obtain insights that can lead to improved decision-making. Business data analytics can be applied to investigate a proposed business decision, action, or a hypothesis, or to discover new insights from business data that may result in improved decision-making.

The business data analytics cycle is the iterative research process that seeks to answer a well-formed research question. Data analysis then explores the results of this research.

Business data analytics can be defined more specifically through several perspectives. These perspectives include, but are not limited to, business data analytics as a:
• movement,
• capability,
• data-centric activity set,
• decision-making paradigm, and
• set of practices and technologies.