What is a Certified Business Intelligence Professional

A certified business intelligence professional is simply an individual who has been certified through a series of specific tests on his or her ability to perform specified work with a unique business intelligence system. A certified business intelligence professional can receive a certification on any number of systems including Cognos, Business Objects and a number of others. A certified business intelligence professional can be extremely helpful when using a Bi system that is complicated and that requires lengthy training and adoption times. More modern BI systems are not eliminating the certified business intelligence professional, but are making the job more focused on BI expertise, rather than on specific systems.

Why Use a Certified Business Intelligence Professional

The primary reason for using a certified business intelligence professional is to quickly augment an organization's skill set with an individual who has received a certification on a specific system. A company purchasing a Cognos BI system might seek an equivalent certified business intelligence professional to accelerate the process of implementing and using the selected platform to ensure high ROI. A certified business intelligence professional can provide a quick way to jump start the investment.

Responsibilities of a Certified Business Intelligence Professional

The responsibilities of a certified business intelligence professional can be varied since certification programs often provide coverage for more than one area of BI. A certified business intelligence professional might be certified on the process of installing and setting up a BI platform, while another certified business intelligence professional might be certified on dashboard creation and scripting. The certified business intelligence professional is typically associated with complex systems that are difficult to learn.

When Not to Use a Certified Business Intelligence Professional

With the advent of new BI systems that are far easier to deploy, learn and use, the need for a certified business intelligence professional has diminished. The traditional role of a certified business intelligence professional in deploying and using a new platform are not as critical when the system itself provides an intuitive and friendly interface. In these situations a certified business intelligence professional can provide more expertise on usage and gaining maximum benefit from the system than on specific system usage. In this role, the certified business intelligence professional becomes more of a consultant for system usage.

How to Become a Certified Business Intelligence Professional

In the past the process of becoming a certified business intelligence professional involved contacting specific vendors and enrolling in a laundry list of courses designed to provide thorough training and expertise on the specific system. Certification of certified business intelligence professional, however, is also a profit center for system builders. As such, the process of becoming a certified business intelligence professional is often slow and extremely difficult. New programs are becoming available for a certified business intelligence professional that focus more on becoming BI experts than on specific platforms. This new trend highlights the need for a new type of certified business intelligence professional.