Business Analytics Minor

About Rider's Business Analytics Minor Program

The Business Analytics Minor helps students develop the skills and gain the knowledge of the technologies, applications, and processes used by organizations to turn massive, diverse, and complex data into actionable insights to drive their decision making across all aspects of business, including finance, marketing, accounting, and operations. The minor utilizes a problem solving approach that combines the management of data with training in data mining, predictive analytics, and data visualization. Students will graduate with hands-on expertise using current software applications that will enable them to contribute to their organizations immediately upon graduation.

Upon completion of the minor, students will:

• Gain an understanding of data management tools and the practical design and use of databases in a business environment
• Develop the abilities to use data mining techniques to derive useful business insights
• Be able to author enterprise dashboards to report trends and support “what-if” analysis in real time
• Gain proficiency in applying current analytics technology to explore, analyze, and visualize data
• Strengthen presentation skills to effectively communicate business-relevant implications of data analysis
• Display the abilities to apply data analytics skills in one or more functional areas of business

Why Data Analytics is Important

Every day, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created, according to recent statistics at IBM (2015). In fact, more than 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. The data may come from business transactions, sensors, email, social media, mobile devices, digital pictures, videos, audio, and more. The Gartner Group, a leading information technology research an advisory company, defines data analytics as “the application of analytic capabilities (descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive) on enormous, varied or rapidly changing datasets.” Today, data analytics has become a highly sought after skill in every area of business.

Program Requirements

Coursework in the business analytics minor uses a problem solving approach that combines the management of data with training in data mining, predictive analytics, and data visualization. Students will gain hands-on experience using current software applications with real business problems, enabling them to contribute to organizations immediately upon graduation. The minor includes three prerequisite courses, three advanced-level courses, and two electives.