With businesses keeping an extremely close eye on all spending, departments are being asked to demonstrate tangible benefits from all of their investment. Analysts are required to monitor and report against credit risk, marketing campaigns and customer insight and loyalty among others. With this data they extract, businesses are able to understand their customers and clients in order to match their needs with more targeted investment.

Sectors such as financial, marketing, retail and utilities invest heavily in analytics, but in our experience, almost every sector can benefit from such insight.

For people looking to change careers within the IT sector, or for those entering the workplace after university, an analytics qualification can be a very desirable skill to acquire. The sector has been extremely buoyant and shows little sign of slowing down. Furthermore, the skills are extremely transferable and can allow for easy transition to working in many other sectors.

Those coming from a numerical background in particular, will find the transition to analytical work very natural. However, for anyone with a basic IT skill set, the addition of an analytical qualification can be a very wise investment which, in the long-term, can lead to a varied and rewarding career working within a broad range of opportunities.