Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/analytics-business-metrics

Introduction

### Course Review: Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies on Coursera In today’s rapidly evolving corporate landscape, leveraging data to drive business decisions has become paramount. The **Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies** course on Coursera offers a comprehensive introduction to the best practices necessary for utilizing data analytics to enhance competitive positioning and profitability. This course serves as the first module in the broader specialization titled **Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business**, which encompasses four courses along with a Capstone Project. #### Course Overview As a participant in this course, you will delve into the intricacies of business metrics—those critical numbers that guide organizational decisions and strategies. The curriculum is designed to help you distinguish meaningful business metrics from trivial data points, a skill essential for transforming raw data into actionable insights. The course not only covers essential metrics such as cash flow, profitability, and marketing effectiveness but also addresses the diverse roles within the data analytics landscape—namely business analysts, data analysts, and data scientists. Understanding these roles will empower you to identify opportunities in your own career or in the business processes of an organization. #### Syllabus Highlights 1. **Introduction to Business Metrics**: The course kicks off by exploring various business metrics, helping you to classify and differentiate these from mere business data. Utilizing supplemental materials such as cash flow and P&L statements enhances understanding of real-world applications. 2. **Working in the Business Data Analytics Marketplace**: Engaging with stories from former students now flourishing in jobs as analysts provides valuable insights into career paths in this field. This segment sharpens your ability to identify job roles and required skills, positioning you for future opportunities. 3. **Going Deeper into Business Metrics**: This week focuses on metrics crucial for web marketing, particularly in the financial services sector, highlighting the shift caused by digital businesses overtaking traditional models. You’ll learn to identify vital marketing metrics that every business should comprehend to remain competitive. 4. **Applying Business Metrics to a Business Case Study**: The culmination of the course allows you to apply what you’ve learned in a peer assessment, where you evaluate and propose actionable changes based on identified metrics in a case study. This hands-on approach ensures that you can apply theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios. #### Review and Recommendation Overall, **Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies** is an invaluable course for anyone looking to harness the power of data in the business sector. The structured approach and engaging content make complex topics accessible and digestible. By the end of the course, you will not only grasp fundamental business metrics but also understand their application in real-world scenarios, which is crucial for anyone aspiring to thrive in a data-driven environment. Given its emphasis on both knowledge acquisition and practical application, I highly recommend this course. Whether you are a budding analyst, a business professional aiming to enhance your decision-making capabilities, or someone simply interested in the transformative power of data in business contexts, this course will significantly elevate your understanding and proficiency in business metrics. For those eager to advance their career or embark on a new journey in business analytics, starting with **Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies** is the perfect first step in mastering the wider specialization that promises to equip you with a robust skill set applicable across various industries. Enroll today, and take your first step towards becoming a data-savvy professional!

Syllabus

About This Specialization and Course

This Coursera Specialization: Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business, is about how 'Big Data' interacts with business, and how to use data analytics to create value for businesses. This specialization consists of four courses and a final Capstone Project, where you will apply your skills to real-world business process. You will learn to perform sophisticated data-analysis functions using powerful software tools such as Microsoft Excel, Tableau, and MySQL. To learn more, watch the video and review the specialization overview document we provided. In the first course of the specialization: Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies, you will be able to learn best practices for using data analytics to make any company more competitive and more profitable; learn to recognize the most critical business metrics and distinguish those from mere data; understand the vital but different roles business analysts, business data analysts, and data scientists each play in various types of companies; and know exactly the skills required to be hired for, and succeed at, these high-demand jobs. Finally, using a 20-item checklist for evaluating a business, you'll be able to score any company on how effectively it is embracing big data culture. Digital companies like Amazon, Uber and Airbnb are transforming entire industries through their creative use of big data. You’ll understand why these companies are so disruptive, and how they use data-analytics techniques to out-compete traditional companies.To get started, please begin with the video 'About This Specialization.'I hope you enjoy this week's materials!

Welcome! This week we will explore business metrics - the critical numbers that help companies figure out how to survive and thrive. Inside every pile of data is a vital metric trying to get out! By the end of this week, you will be able to: distinguish business metrics from mere business data; identify critical business metrics such as cash flow, profitability, and online retail marketing metrics; distinguish revenue, profitability and risk metrics; and distinguish traditional from dynamic metrics. Included in this week’s course materials is a Cash Flow and P&L statement for Egger’s Roast Coffee, as a supplemental document, so be sure to review it carefully and refer to the glossary for key information.

Welcome! This week, we will meet some great people - all former students of mine - now working at super-interesting and exciting jobs as business analysts, business data analysts, or data scientists. We’ll explore what they do, how their role relates to big data, and the skills they needed to get hired! Our hope is this information will give you a better understanding of the type of data-related job you might apply for once you've completed this specialization, and a sense of the type of company you would find most appealing to work for. By the end of this week, you will be able to: differentiate among different job roles within a company that work with data; identify how each role works with data; and describe the skills required to perform each job role. You will differentiate how different types of companies relate to big data culture, and rank any company according to a 20-item checklist. You will also learn to differentiate how different types of companies relate to big data culture. Included in this week’s materials is a 20-item checklist to rank companies. This week also includes in-video polls so you can see how others are ranking their businesses.

Welcome! This week we’re going to go deeper into the critically-important metrics for web marketing - metrics every type of business needs to understand in order to survive. We’ll dive into the 'vertical' market of financial services - where digital companies are threatening to take away the market from traditional 'brick-and- mortar' companies.By the end of this week, you will be able to: Identify critical business metrics for all companies engaged in web-based marketing; and identify critical business metrics for financial services companies. You’ll find additional website links that expand some of the course materials covered in this week’s video lectures.

This week contains the final course assignment, a peer assessment in which you will identify business metrics of interest in a case example, describe those metrics, and propose a business process change that could be supported by the metric chosen.