Data analytics and data analysis: Is there a difference?

As businesses become increasingly dependent on data, it makes a lot of sense to start quantifying and analyzing data to gain further insights. A thorough inspection of collated data can not only lead to positive outcomes but also do away with the ‘guesswork’ involved in making decisions. The availability of multiple sets of hard facts makes decision making more effective and increases efficiency.

Data analytics and data analysis are two common terms associated with the data realm. Contrary to what most people believe, these two terms are neither similar nor interchangeable. Therefore, we, at WGD Analytics, would like to take this opportunity to define these terms and point out the basic differences and their methods.

Data Analytics

Data analytics is a process that encompasses all the steps – both human and machine-enabled – that are taken to turn raw data into something valuable. In other words, the discovery, collection, interpretation, visualization and the presentation of available data into actionable information that can influence decisions and business outcomes is called data analytics.

WGD Analytics is an expert in this domain. We leverage our expertise in data analytics to help companies discover business opportunities, figure out successful trends, anticipate triggers or events and make effective decisions.

Data Analysis

Data analysis, on the other hand, is concerned with combing through a set of given data to find useful information. The data being examined is usually smaller as data analysis has more to do with finding out specific information related to specific trends.

This comes in handy for companies that are trying to strengthen their operational architecture, conduct risk assessments, assess product performance, etc. Evaluating the set of related historical data allows the company to gain an insight of what works and what does not.

According to our team of experts at WGD Analytics, the simplest way to understand these two terms is to look at it this way. Data analysis is a part of Data analytics that analyzes data to understand ‘What happened?’ Data analytics is the follow up that helps organizations answer an even more critical question – ‘What will happen next?’

Both Data analytics and Data analysis are used to uncover patterns, trends and anomalies in a given data set. The difference lies in their scope and approach to data – Data analysis looks into the past while Data analytics tries to predict the future.