With the growth of online education, it has become easier for individuals to acquire the skills needed to become a BI professional. Online courses are flexible, and affordable, and offer a wide range of options to learners.

Struggling to find qualified business intelligence professionals to join your team? Read our guide on What you Need to Learn for Business Intelligence to build your own skills internally.

Business intelligence (BI) is a vital aspect of every enterprise, regardless of its size or industry. With the rise of data-driven decision-making, businesses are increasingly relying on BI to improve their operations, make informed decisions, and stay ahead of the competition. South Africa is no exception, with many businesses seeking skilled BI professionals to help them navigate the rapidly evolving business landscape.

In this article, we will highlight some of the top online BI courses available in South Africa.

Why Take an Online BI Course?

Online courses have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their flexibility and accessibility. Here are some of the benefits of taking an online BI course:

• Convenience: Online courses allow learners to study at their own pace and from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Affordability: Online courses are typically more affordable than traditional in-person courses.
• Variety: Online courses offer a wide range of options to learners, including self-paced courses, instructor-led courses, and certificate programs.
• Quality: Online courses are designed and taught by industry experts, ensuring that learners receive a high-quality education.
• Networking: Online courses provide opportunities for learners to connect with industry professionals and other learners from around the world.

Types of Online BI Courses

There are several types of online BI courses available to learners. Here are some of the most popular options:

Self-paced Courses

Self-paced courses are designed for learners who prefer to study at their own pace. These courses typically consist of pre-recorded lectures, readings, and assignments that learners can complete on their own time. Self-paced courses are ideal for individuals with busy schedules or those who prefer to learn independently.

Instructor-led Courses

Instructor-led courses are designed for learners who prefer a more structured approach to learning. These courses typically consist of live online lectures, discussions, and assignments that are delivered by an instructor. Instructor-led courses are ideal for individuals who benefit from interaction with other learners and an instructor.

Certificate Programs

Certificate programs are designed for individuals who want to gain a comprehensive understanding of BI. These programs typically consist of a series of courses that cover various aspects of BI, and upon completion, learners receive a certificate. Certificate programs are ideal for individuals who want to demonstrate their expertise in BI to employers.

Top Online BI Courses in South Africa

Here are some of the top online BI courses available in South Africa:

Analytics Fundamentals

In today’s world, analytics has become a ubiquitous topic in almost every aspect of our lives. It is not just limited to the boardrooms and strategy sessions of businesses but has also seeped into our everyday routines, such as managing our social networks, personal fitness, and health. The potential of analytics cannot be overstated as it offers immense benefits to organizations in terms of competitive positioning, generating new insights, guiding decision-makers, and achieving positive outcomes. However, to achieve success with analytics, it is crucial to understand how different components such as data, technology, people, and processes work together cohesively to turn potential into results.

If you are looking to gain a deeper understanding of analytics, look no further than our 6-hour online course. This course serves as a solid foundation for comprehending the scope and key success factors of analytics. It introduces the concepts and terminology associated with analytics and provides a frame of reference for the topics that follow by discussing the scope of analytics. Additionally, the course makes business analytics tangible through a variety of industry use cases and functional examples while presenting data analytics as the building blocks to enable business analytics applications. Moreover, it positions a wide range of algorithms and modelling techniques using a capabilities framework, giving learners a broad perspective of the breadth of analytics possibilities.

Data Visualisation and Storytelling

Communication is the final step in the data analysis journey. Analysis, discovery, insight, forecasting, prediction – none of these truly matter until the results are effectively conveyed and grasped. Data visualisation is a key component of analytics and the cornerstone of data communication. The effectiveness and value of analytics and data science rely on three communication abilities: creating, reading, and explaining data visualisations.

Creating and interpreting visualizations are akin to language skills for dealing with visual information. In our early years, we learned the basics of reading and writing in word-based languages. Similarly, with image-based languages, we must grasp concepts like points, lines, shapes, axes, scales, coordinates, and visual cues. These form the core skills of visualisation literacy.

Explaining data visualizations involves the art of storytelling, where data storytellers play a central role in data communication. Data storytelling adds a narrative layer to interpret and clarify data visualizations. At the very least, narrative enhances visualizations, outlines conclusions, improves understanding, and prevents misunderstandings and miscommunications. At its best, storytelling goes beyond mere explanation to engage, energize, excite, inspire, and motivate people.

Fundamentals of Business Intelligence

Despite being defined in the mid-1990s, Business Intelligence (BI) remains an ambiguous term that is often used inconsistently by both IT and business professionals. As practitioners continue to explore its capabilities and challenges, the meaning of BI has evolved over time.

To address this issue, our online training course provides a “holistic” view of BI and presents it as a complex system comprising many interdependent sub-systems that must be aligned and work together to produce the desired business results. Achieving real success with BI within an organization requires a comprehensive understanding of how the various components are designed and implemented. Our course provides an extensive overview of BI, as well as a detailed case study that illustrates the concepts, principles, and practices in a real-world context.

By taking our course, you will gain a deeper understanding of BI and learn how to apply its principles to improve your organization’s performance. Whether you are an IT professional, a business professional, or simply interested in learning more about BI, our course is designed to provide you with a comprehensive and practical understanding of this important concept.

Analytics-based Enterprise Performance Management

Many organizations struggle with improving their performance and often rely on intuition rather than data when making decisions. To address this, enterprise and corporate performance management (EPM/CPM) has emerged as a set of integrated managerial methods.

EPM/CPM methods include balanced scorecards with key performance indicators (KPIs), strategy maps, enterprise risk management (ERM), driver-based planning and budgeting, rolling financial forecasts, what-if scenario planning, activity-based costing (ABC), supply chain management, lean and Six Sigma quality management, and resource capacity planning.

To further enhance these methods, they can be combined with business intelligence (BI) and business analytics (BA) techniques, such as correlation, segmentation, associations, regression analysis, and predictive analytics.

This 4-hour online course provides a comprehensive guide on how to fully implement analytics-based enterprise performance management to improve organizational performance.

Achieve Data Analysis Certified accreditation

Learners who complete the 4 self-paced courses listed (or choose some of the other options available), and pass our challenging examinations will achieve Data Analysis Certified (DAC) accreditation.

The DAC designation in Data Analytics is awarded to individuals who have met advanced educational and knowledge requirements in the field of business intelligence and performance management.

This credential is targeted towards working professionals and practitioners who have demonstrated expertise in business intelligence and analytics. DAC certification indicates to employers and colleagues that the individual is dedicated to their profession, possesses the necessary training, and has a high level of competence and knowledge.

About eLearningCurve

eLearningCurve offers a wide range of online education programs focused on various aspects of information management, which are accessible to working professionals worldwide.

eLewarningCurves courses are designed to provide students with the most valuable educational experience, featuring comprehensive content taught by expert instructors, delivered through innovative teaching methods.

The flexible learning system allows you to take courses at your convenience, from anywhere and at any time. Students can learn at their own pace, review the material as often as needed, and evaluate their understanding through online exams to ensure that they have grasped the concepts thoroughly.

Want to know more about business intelligence?

Data literacy is the basic ability to work with, understand and draw conclusions from data. learn more about what data literacy is and why is it important!

Are you  more interested in a career in business analytics? We put together a list of the top online data analytics courses in South Africa, to help you to build your business analytics capabilities.