BUSINESS ANALYTICS

OVERVIEW: Business analytics (BA), in essence, is the discipline of using data analysis - ranging from simple descriptive statistics to advanced, AI-based predictions - to illuminate all quantitative aspects relevant to a specific organization, from its own performance, to the behavior of its customers, and challenges from competitors. This course covers the entire value chain of a BA process, including formulating the question, collecting and managing the relevant data, analyzing said data to answer the question, and finally effectively communicating the results (e.g., data visualization) to stakeholders. While the course teaches some hands-on data analysis/statistics (e.g., database structures, conditional averages, correlations, confidence intervals), the emphasis of the course is on educating users and managers of BA, and as such includes stakeholder engagement and implementation planning.

CONTENT: Following an introduction to the history of BA, weekly lectures and associated assignments (some spreadsheet-based, others in essay format) teach all above elements of the BA value chain one by one. Accompanying readings cover academic foundations and practitioner commentary, from Alan Turing's work (1912-1952) to latest advances in quantum computing. A short individual presentation and a group white paper allow students to combine and hone the various acquired skills in an end-end application. As an overarching objective, upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to devise and "pitch" an innovate BA process to an organization, including strategic recommendations on its business value and implementation.

LOGISTICS: Required course for IKNS students, open to all Columbia University graduate students; no prerequisites other than beginner's familiarity with spreadsheet software and simple statistics (e.g., average, error margin). Online course meets once a week (live via zoom) for the duration of the semester.