What does a business intelligence specialist do?
A Business Intelligence Specialist is responsible for evaluating strategic techniques and operational processes that would support business functions and achieve goals efficiently. They assess technical applications and develop solutions for complex procedures to minimize downtimes and potential risks. They coordinate with system analysts to generate data and codes and design applications and servers to implement business decisions. A specialist must have excellent critical-thinking and technical skills to manage accounts and ensure clients' timely deliverables.
Business intelligence specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real business intelligence specialist resumes:
- Coordinate and manage Cognos customers from a select group of high revenue contribution, establishing exceptional customer relationships.
- Adapt existing Java base data load application for Netezza database thus making first generation of Netezza data warehouse operational.
- Work on overall functionality of the projects including internal logic, data integration and internal build process development using T-SQL.
- Used T-SQL to query sales, impression, customer, and email databases, to provide analysis for senior management.
- Help develop the company web site using HTML5, CSS and jQuery within Joomla CMS (https: //www.webbuildercloud.com/en/).
- Create sophisticated calculate members using MDX queries; design and create aggregations to speed up queries and improve performance in SSAS.
- Monitor Cognos environment for usage and performance.
- Administer and maintain a SharePoint website for global regulatory information.
- Collect, analyze and validate energy savings KPIs against audit results.
- Design and develop financial/business reports providing KPIs relevant for stakeholder's decision-making.
- Work with graphics designer to produce custom dashboard visualization as per the business requirements
- Conduct architecture overview presentations to senior management, and assist in securing project approval.
- Design and lead development of numerous data manipulation processes for various clients CRM applications.
- Utilize Microsoft SharePoint extensively for content management of current project and also for batch job distribution.
- Develop new subject area star schema model to accommodate national animal health product sales and market share data across participating manufacturers.
Business intelligence specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Business Intelligence Specialists are proficient in Power Bi, Analytics, and Tableau. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Analytical skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Business Intelligence Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Power Bi, 15%
Developed highly interactive Dashboard with advanced drill down capability using Power BI Cloud Service.
- Analytics, 13%
Consulted with operations teams to identify opportunities for automation and analytics.
- Tableau, 12%
Developed highly complex Dashboards and various data visualization charts in Tableau.
- Visualization, 6%
Evangelized data visualization throughout the organization by designing, developing & maintaining visual display of all the mission critical data sets
- Data Analysis, 4%
Perform data analysis and research during development projects and field-testing using database tools, queries and spreadsheets from several data sources.
- ETL, 4%
Created base for enterprise data warehouse similar to dimension database, hiring contractor to code ETL using MS SQL 2005.
Common skills that a business intelligence specialist uses to do their job include "power bi," "analytics," and "tableau." You can find details on the most important business intelligence specialist responsibilities below.
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a business intelligence specialist to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "developers are the creative minds behind new computer software." Business intelligence specialists often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "work with management to identify new and creative opportunities to leverage the database to support additional business processes or functions. "
Analytical skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling business intelligence specialist duties is analytical skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "developers must analyze users’ needs and then design software to meet those needs." According to a business intelligence specialist resume, here's how business intelligence specialists can utilize analytical skills in their job responsibilities: "present bi and data visualization concepts at peer conferences. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of business intelligence specialists is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday business intelligence specialist duties, as "developers must be able to give clear instructions to others working on a project." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "participated in oracle communication data model (ocdm) training conducted by oracle. "
Detail oriented. For certain business intelligence specialist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "detail oriented." The day-to-day duties of a business intelligence specialist rely on this skill, as "developers often work on many parts of an application or system at the same time and must therefore be able to concentrate and pay attention to detail." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what business intelligence specialists do: "created technical and non technical detailed documentation for the entire cognos portal. "
Problem-solving skills. A commonly-found skill in business intelligence specialist job descriptions, "problem-solving skills" is essential to what business intelligence specialists do. Business intelligence specialist responsibilities rely on this skill because "because developers are in charge of software from beginning to end, they must be able to solve problems that arise throughout the design process." You can also see how business intelligence specialist duties rely on problem-solving skills in this resume example: "developed a software solution using t-sql, ssis, and microsoft dynamics gp to fill the identified gaps. "
See the full list of business intelligence specialist skills
The three companies that hire the most business intelligence specialists are:
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Compare different business intelligence specialists
Business intelligence specialist vs. Analytical data miner
An analytical data miner specializes in providing analytical services to help organizations make decisions and optimize their daily operations. They may work in the medical, manufacturing, information technology, construction, and finance industries. Although the extent of their responsibilities depends on their place of employment, it typically includes gathering and analyzing data through software and applications, examining statistical information, maintaining records, and presenting detailed reports in adherence to the company's protocols and guidelines, including its policies and regulations.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between business intelligence specialists and analytical data miner. For instance, business intelligence specialist responsibilities require skills such as "analytics," "business intelligence tools," "architecture," and "data warehousing." Whereas a analytical data miner is skilled in "python," "bi," "cloud," and "powerpoint." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Analytical data miners tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $90,088. In contrast, business intelligence specialists make the biggest average salary, $98,172, in the finance industry.On average, analytical data miners reach higher levels of education than business intelligence specialists. Analytical data miners are 5.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Business intelligence specialist vs. Senior analyst-market intelligence
Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real business intelligence specialist resumes. While business intelligence specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "power bi," "analytics," "tableau," and "visualization," senior analyst-market intelligences use skills like "market intelligence," "competitive intelligence," "macro," and "market insights."
Senior analyst-market intelligences earn lower levels of education than business intelligence specialists in general. They're 5.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for business intelligence specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Rebecca Sarver
Lecturer in Human Services Studies, Elmira College
Business intelligence specialist vs. Specialist
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, business intelligence specialists are more likely to have skills like "power bi," "analytics," "tableau," and "visualization." But a specialist is more likely to have skills like "patients," "customer service," "work ethic," and "patient care."
Specialists typically earn lower educational levels compared to business intelligence specialists. Specifically, they're 15.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Business intelligence specialist vs. Director, global intelligence
Types of business intelligence specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
