What are the challenges of pursuing a BI career path in IS?

1 Skill Gap

One of the main challenges of pursuing a BI career path in IS is the skill gap between the demand and the supply of qualified BI professionals. According to a report by IBM, the number of data and analytics job openings is expected to grow by 28% by 2020, while the number of skilled workers is projected to grow by only 19%. This means that there is a shortage of people who can perform BI tasks such as data integration, data visualization, data mining, and data storytelling. To bridge this gap, you need to constantly update your skills and learn new tools and techniques. You can do this by taking online courses, attending workshops, joining communities, and seeking mentorship.

2 Data Quality

Another challenge of pursuing a BI career path in IS is the data quality issue. Data is the raw material for BI, but not all data is reliable, accurate, or consistent. Data quality can be affected by various factors, such as human errors, system errors, data silos, data duplication, data security, and data governance. Poor data quality can lead to inaccurate or misleading BI results, which can damage the credibility and value of your work. To avoid this, you need to ensure that the data you use is clean, verified, and relevant. You can do this by applying data quality checks, data cleansing, data validation, and data documentation.

3 Business Alignment

A third challenge of pursuing a BI career path in IS is the business alignment problem. BI is not just about producing reports and dashboards, but also about providing actionable insights that can help the business achieve its goals and objectives. However, sometimes there is a disconnect between what the business needs and what the BI delivers. This can be due to a lack of communication, collaboration, or understanding between the business and the BI teams. To overcome this, you need to align your BI strategy and solutions with the business vision and priorities. You can do this by engaging with the business stakeholders, defining clear and measurable BI outcomes, and delivering value-added BI services.

4 Change Management

A fourth challenge of pursuing a BI career path in IS is the change management issue. BI is not a one-time project, but a continuous process that requires constant adaptation and improvement. BI solutions need to evolve with the changing business environment, customer expectations, and competitive landscape. However, change can also bring resistance, confusion, or disruption to the existing processes and systems. To manage this, you need to have a clear and effective change management plan that can facilitate the adoption and integration of your BI solutions. You can do this by involving the end-users, providing training and support, communicating the benefits and risks, and monitoring the feedback and performance.