Future shortage of professionals in the business analytics field could mean job opportunities
Hamid Adem
Assistant News Editor
This September, York’s Schulich School of Business will be offering a Master’s of Science in the Business Analytics program.
The first of its kind in Canada, with only a handful of similar programs in the US, this program was created to cater to an increasing demand in the business analytics industry.
“We are teaching students how to do business analytics so once they graduate they can go to the workforce and analyze transactional and customer data to help companies figure out how to best reach their customers and clients,” says Murat Kristal, program director of Schulich’s Master of Science in Business Analytics.
Business analysis involves identifying problems and coming up with solutions for businesses. These solutions can involve things like developing a new system, or changing policy and organization.
Kristal says that the size of the market is growing and as computing power becomes more accessible, and companies are able to gather more information about their customers, many companies are finding that they have a wealth of external data, but are lacking in internal data.
With a projected shortage of professionals in the field of business analytics by 2018, this program will prepare students to work in the field with real-life, hands-on data analysis projects.
Kristal says the industry is looking for talented individuals who can not only understand the business process, but who can also analyze the data, and then glean conclusions from that analysis to help businesses be more competitive in the market.
Currently, Schulich offers a wide selection of Masters programs such as Master of Business Administration, Master of Financing, and Master of Public Administration.
