8 Business Analytics Influencers Worth Following

The future of business leadership relies on data-driven decision making. As business intelligence and big data platforms and methodologies evolve, and expand to include emergent technologies, professionals in the field must keep pace or risk being left behind. Enter social media- the great gateway to innovative, bold minds. Social media is a great space for getting to know business analytics influencers, their ideas, how they operate, and insights into how they foresee the field changing.

The following influencers are leaders of major companies, authors of best-selling books, and some of the best-known, self-made brands in the business. Their content is engaging, informative, inspiring, and relevant to today.

Follow, engage, and stay abreast of the latest developments in the field with these 8 business analytics influencers.

1. Kirk Borne– Kirk has been a top worldwide influencer in technology since 2013. He is unmatched in his understanding of all things #AI. He is sure to change the way you think about and explore data.  
2. Lillian Pierson– Lillian is one of the biggest brands in #bigdata. She helps companies transform their data experience and offers useful case studies on analytics, IoT (internet of things), deep learning and more.  
3. Ronald Van Loon– Ronald Van Loon is leaving one giant footprint on the digital transformation era with a slew of fantastic publications on Big Data, IoT, AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science, and a whole lot of insightful video content to boot. 
4. Hilary Mason– Hilary has an impressive level of experience under her belt as the founder of Fast Forward Labs, Chief Scientist at bitly and co-founder of HackNY, to name a few. She is an integral voice in the conversation to evolve the emerging discipline of data science. 
5. Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro– Gregory is the president of KDnuggets, a leading site for analytics, big data, data mining, data science, and machine learning. His knowledge is both deep and extensive, and his content is varied and useful.  
6. Carla Gentry– A self-proclaimed “data nerd,” Carla curates some of the best content on data science as it applies to #VR and #AR.  
7. Bernard Marr– An influential voice in business performance, digital transformation, and the intelligent use of data in business. Bernard frequently writes and speaks on how data and emergent technologies will affect organizations from governments to small businesses.  
8. Monica Rogati– Monica has been named one of Fast Company’s 100 most creative people in business and Fortune Magazine’s Big Data All-Stars. She is an expert at simplifying data and analytics to a level that most everyone can understand.   

Ready to jump in to a career in business analytics? Check out the Master of Science in Business Analytics at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington.