New UIS online course gives business professionals the chance to become data analytics ninjas

The University of Illinois Springfield is offering a chance for business professionals to become data analytics ninjas through a new highly marketable Splunk fundamentals course that can be completed online in only a month.

Splunk is a platform that can search, monitor and analyze massive amounts of data from any source to obtain real-time insights. The platform reduces the time spent organizing data, which means businesses can make decisions faster.

“Business professionals who take this course will become instantly marketable,” said Somnath Bhattacharya, dean of the UIS College of Business and Management. “Put simply, data analysts are valuable, and with a looming skills shortage on the horizon, as more and more businesses and sectors start working with big data, this value is only going to increase.”

The Splunk platform will be used throughout the course to teach students the fundamentals of big data and data analytics. By utilizing Splunk, students will learn how to collect, index, search, analyze and visualize data in one place. The class is designed to prepare students to pass the Splunk Core Certified User exam.

“Strong demand for data analytics skills is boosting the wages for qualified professionals,” said Rob Kerr, UIS associate director of continuing and professional education. “As the demand steadily increases and the supply remains low, data analytics professionals are getting paid more and more.”

Registration for the March 19-April 16 course is currently open. The deadline to apply for the first session is March 6. For more information on the course, registration and other scheduled sessions, visit uis.edu/cape.

The fundamentals course is being offered through a partnership with the UIS College of Business and Management, UIS Continuing and Professional Education (CAPE) and bitsIO, Inc., a local Springfield business and Innovate Springfield member.

bitsIO, Inc., who will lead and facilitate the course, is a leading Splunk Elite Partner. As one of the leading Splunk partners in the industry, bitsIO, Inc. has over two decades of expertise in the IT domain and a track record of deploying Splunk technologies to national and international companies.

For more information, contact Rob Kerr, UIS associate director of continuing and professional education, at 217-206-8644 or rkerr6@uis.edu.