Analytics is the system of applying certain methods and techniques to understand the performance of data, generally in an organization or industry. The application of analytics can be used to uncover and interpret relevant patterns of data, which can be later used to make better decisions. Analytics relies on good data as part of its usefulness, as well as the aspects of statistics, computer programming, and operations research to quantify performance. Analytics exists in business when companies use statistics and software processes in assessing how a particular product, service, or project measures up in scope. Businesses perform analytics to pinpoint strengths, identify challenges or weaknesses that may exist, and pull out key data points to help make decisions regarding future growth for the organization.

Learning analytics is a key skill that helps you solve problems to existing challenges. When you use analytics tools to research data patterns, you use methods of analyzing performance characteristics that are essential to a business organization. This is important in today's world of big data. Understanding analytics can make you a valuable asset when assessing areas rich with recorded information, performance indicators, and target goals.

What are typical careers that use analytics?

Analytics is found in a wide range of careers, including business analyst, budget analyst, financial controller, data scientist, and operations researcher. Individuals who move into these and other careers in data analytics often work with raw data and algorithms through mechanical processes to make assumptions and theories. Essentially, with knowledge of analytics, you can move into a job that requires a familiarity with numeric relationships, data structures, and trends and metrics relevant to an organization.

How can taking online courses on Coursera help me learn analytics?

When you take online courses in analytics, you can gain a new understanding of key concepts like data analysis and visualization, mathematical optimization, regression analysis, predictive modeling, and other areas focused on business analytics. Taking online courses about analytics can help you achieve basic data literacy to help you make more informed decisions in any area you work in, like finance, operations, or marketing. As you branch out, you may advance your analytics understanding to include how to extract and manipulate data points, how to use different statistical analysis methods to break down the data, and how to eventually interpret and present your findings.

What are the benefits of taking an online Analytics course?

Online Analytics courses offer a convenient and flexible way to enhance your existing knowledge or learn new Analytics skills. With a wide range of Analytics classes, you can conveniently learn at your own pace to advance your Analytics career.

What Analytics courses are best for training and upskilling employees or the workforce?

When looking to enhance your workforce's skills in Analytics, it's crucial to select a course that aligns with their current abilities and learning objectives. Our Skills Dashboard is an invaluable tool for identifying skill gaps and choosing the most appropriate course for effective upskilling. For a comprehensive understanding of how our courses can benefit your employees, explore the enterprise solutions we offer. Discover more about our tailored programs at Coursera for Business here .

Top Analytics Courses - Learn Analytics Online

Explore the Analytics Course Catalog

Status: Free
Campus BBVA
Business Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Dashboard, Business Analytics, Data Quality, Business Intelligence, Data Analysis, Descriptive Statistics, Data-Driven Decision-Making, Probability & Statistics, Statistical Inference, Big Data, Exploratory Data Analysis, Project Management Life Cycle, Job Analysis
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
25 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Business Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Extract, Transform, Load, Marketing Analytics, Data Presentation, Data Visualization, Regression Analysis, Alteryx, Data Collection, Interactive Data Visualization, Data Quality, Statistical Visualization, Tidyverse (R Package), R Programming, Data Visualization Software, Data Processing, Network Analysis, Business Analytics, Internal Controls, Exploratory Data Analysis, Robotic Process Automation
Build toward a degree
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
1.1K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free
University of Amsterdam
Data Analytics for Lean Six Sigma
Skills you'll gain: Lean Six Sigma, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Minitab, Regression Analysis, Data Visualization Software, Probability Distribution, Descriptive Statistics, Data Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Box Plots, Analytics, Process Improvement, Correlation Analysis, Variance Analysis
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
3.4K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
University of Michigan
Sports Performance Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Forecasting, Statistical Methods, Regression Analysis, Data Cleansing, Scikit Learn (Machine Learning Library), Supervised Learning, Data Processing, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Correlation Analysis, Predictive Analytics, Predictive Modeling, Matplotlib, Applied Machine Learning, Kinesiology, Injury Prevention, Statistical Machine Learning, Analytics, Data Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Probability & Statistics
4.5
Rating, 4.5 out of 5 stars
255 reviews
Intermediate · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Google
Google Business Intelligence
Skills you'll gain: Business Intelligence, Data Modeling, Dashboard, Database Design, Extract, Transform, Load, Data Integration, Stakeholder Engagement, Data Warehousing, Data Presentation, Performance Tuning, Data Pipelines, Data Visualization Software, Business Reporting, Data Integrity, Business Analytics, Real Time Data, Requirements Elicitation, Scalability, Business Process, Data-Driven Decision-Making
Build toward a degree
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
2.7K reviews
Advanced · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
Status: AI skills
IBM
IBM Data Science
Skills you'll gain: Dashboard, Data Visualization Software, Data Wrangling, Data Visualization, SQL, Supervised Learning, Feature Engineering, Plotly, Interactive Data Visualization, Jupyter, Data Literacy, Exploratory Data Analysis, Data Mining, Data Cleansing, Matplotlib, Data Analysis, Unsupervised Learning, Generative AI, Pandas (Python Package), Professional Networking
Build toward a degree
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
143K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
IBM
IBM Data Analytics with Excel and R
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Interactive Data Visualization, Shiny (R Package), Data Wrangling, Exploratory Data Analysis, Relational Databases, Big Data, Data Visualization Software, Ggplot2, Database Design, Data Analysis, IBM Cognos Analytics, Statistical Analysis, Data Presentation, Data Mining, Dashboard, Excel Formulas, Data Manipulation, Web Scraping, Microsoft Excel
Build toward a degree
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
28K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
Status: AI skills
IBM
IBM Data Analyst
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Dashboard, Data Visualization Software, Plotly, Data Wrangling, Data Visualization, SQL, Generative AI, Interactive Data Visualization, Exploratory Data Analysis, Data Cleansing, Big Data, Jupyter, Matplotlib, Data Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Pandas (Python Package), Data Manipulation, Excel Formulas, Professional Networking
Build toward a degree
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
91K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
University of California, Irvine
Human Resources Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Data-Driven Decision-Making, Training and Development, Performance Metric, Compensation Management, Human Resources Management and Planning, Human Resources, Human Resource Strategy, Workforce Planning, Business Metrics, Business Analytics, Employee Engagement, Recruitment, Talent Acquisition, Employee Retention
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
2K reviews
Mixed · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: AI skills
Microsoft
Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Dashboard, Excel Formulas, Extract, Transform, Load, Power BI, Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Copilot, Data Modeling, Data-Driven Decision-Making, Star Schema, Data Analysis, Data Presentation, Data Visualization Software, Spreadsheet Software, Data Validation, Interactive Data Visualization, Data Transformation, Data Cleansing, Data Storage
Build toward a degree
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
7.2K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
University of Pennsylvania
Operations Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Business Analytics, Descriptive Analytics, Predictive Analytics, Analytics, Demand Planning, Data-Driven Decision-Making, Operational Analysis, Business Operations, Risk Analysis, Forecasting, Operations Management, Simulation and Simulation Software, Process Optimization, Decision Making, Decision Tree Learning, Spreadsheet Software, Microsoft Excel, Probability Distribution
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
5.1K reviews
Mixed · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Amazon Web Services
Getting Started with Data Analytics on AWS
Skills you'll gain: Descriptive Analytics, Analytics, Data Analysis, Dashboard, Data Literacy, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Data Visualization, Amazon Web Services, Big Data, Amazon S3, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing
4.5
Rating, 4.5 out of 5 stars
888 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks