“Big Data” sounds glamorous, but for most businesses, making sense of their ever-growing data remains elusive.

Businesses know their data is underutilized, but don’t know how to put it to work to acquire more customers, increase sales, or improve their results. The University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business is launching a new graduate-level certificate in Business Analytics this fall to provide Iowa businesses the tools and talent they need to get the most out of their data.

The five-course certificate is designed to help business professionals in all functions make sense of data, however big or small. According to the McKinsey Global Institute Report, Leaders in every sector will have to grapple with the implications of big data.”

And in Accenture Interactive’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Study of 2014, 42 percent of CMOs believe that analytics will be a core competency for marketing professionals over the next five years. The UI’s program is designed for all professionals—regardless of the role, title, or industry—with a focus on impacting business decisions.

The program is taught by the UI's world-class faculty and nationally ranked business school. Courses are offered on weeknights Monday through Thursday in the Tippie College’s facilities in downtown Cedar Rapids, 221 Second Avenue SE.

The program can be completed in as little as one year by taking two courses each semester (starting in fall) and one over the summer. Two courses can be dual-counted with Iowa’s part-time MBA for Professionals & Managers Program. No GRE or GMAT score is required.

Information including program requirements can be found at: tippie.uiowa.edu/business-analytics/.