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Web 2.0, with user-generated and shared content as well as enhanced collaboration, has not only enabled two-way communication between individual Internet users and the cloud, but has also brought tremendous advantages to various aspects of people’s lives and to society as a whole (Chen, 2009). This great revolution has changed how the Internet is used for all kinds of online activities and services, and has led to new ways of thinking such that Internet-based services are now driving comprehensive processes in many different spheres (e.g., Business 2.0, Politics 2.0, Health 2.0, etc.) (Chen, 2009).
Derived from the concept of business intelligence, the term business analytics (BA) was introduced by Davenport (2006), which refers to the use of advanced analytical algorithms, tools, and software to collect, analyze, and act on business data in order to gain insights and drive decision making and problem-solving activities.
Over time, society has experienced three generations of BA, with each generation having its own focus and computing power. The first generation, dubbed Analytics 1.0 (or BA 1.0), is the era of business intelligence in which leading companies started to leverage data management tools and techniques to make sense of structured online business data (Chen & Storey, 2012; Davenport, 2009). The second generation, Analytics 2.0 (or BA 2.0), is the era of “big data” (Davenport, 2009), in which Internet-based social networking companies began leveraging the large amount of unstructured, user-generated data to advance their business activities and facilitate better decision making (Chen & Storey, 2012; Davenport, 2009). Now in the third generation of BA, or Analytics 3.0; this is an era where data-enriched offerings drive business strategy. Here, analytic tools and algorithms are used to make sense of business data and focused upon generating competitive advantages (Davenport, 2009; Goebel et al., 2015). Many firms consider the investment in BA as the top priority in their business strategy development (Turel & Kapoor, 2016).
The great impact and popularity of BA has also significantly influenced the job market (Davenport & Patil, 2012; Turel & Kapoor, 2016) and various industries (Silva et al., 2021). BA has become one of the fastest growing job markets for business school students (Turel & Kapoor, 2016), as organizations need individuals who have a mix of technical background, analytic skill, and comfort with decision making. Unfortunately, a significant gap has been identified between job market demands for BA and the supply of college graduates with the requisite BA training (Jalil & Leen, 2021; Turel & Kapoor, 2016). To address this gap in job market needs, many universities and colleges have started to promote the BA career path by offering BA classes, BA certificates, and even BA-specific majors for those who seek to specialize in this multidisciplinary field.