Business analytics at Florida commuter colleges: The impact and effectiveness of implementing a business analytics program

Abstract

Only forty of Florida's one-hundred seventy-eight colleges and universities are public, meaning the vast majority are privately run. Many of these schools provide associate degrees or certificates (Community College Review, 2021). Commuter colleges hold the distinction of providing off-campus student living, with the majority offering two-year degrees. Despite the growing need in industry for individuals who can manage large amounts of data, commuter colleges rarely offer business analytics courses, causing many students to miss out on such employment opportunities. Most businesses struggle with analytical planning and are looking for experts who can turn data into insight (Albright & Winston, 2016). The absence of data analytics capabilities causes organizations to waste data resources at a rate of approximately sixty to seventy percent (Forrester, 2017). Intrinsically, universities of all sizes, including commuter colleges, need to train and produce more data analysts. Many major universities now offer business analytics degrees, yet business analytics degrees are available at less than twenty percent of commuter colleges. The goal of this research is to investigate whether commuter colleges would indeed benefit from business analytics programs and to determine the appropriate analytics degree curricula most optimal for these types of institutions. The paper will present an exhaustive comparison of the state of Florida's colleges and universities, including commuter colleges, examining both business intelligence and business analytics degree programs. The objective is to analyze the impact and effectiveness of these programs at larger universities and present a model for developing such programs at commuter colleges.