The Evolution of Business Analysis: From Manual Statistics to Intelligent Decision-Making

In the context of an increasingly accelerated process of globalization and digitization, enterprises face an ever more complex and dynamic market environment, making business analysis a key factor for maintaining competitive advantage. To help enterprises gain a deeper understanding of the essence of business analysis, this paper adopts a literature review approach to explore the origins, development, key turning points, and practical applications of business analysis across different industries. Through the organization of literature, this study finds that business analysis has evolved from early, simple data recording to the embryonic form of market research after the Industrial Revolution, and then to a systematic and quantitative development in the information age, driven by theoretical models and technological tools. Its evolution has been profoundly influenced by technological changes such as the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence. In the future, business analytics is expected to evolve toward deep integration with artificial intelligence and cross-industry innovative applications.