The Cyclone is very versatile, has excellent shield boosting (7.5% more per battlecruiser skill level) and can use either artillery, launchers or autocannon. It can squeeze a lot more weapons and modules on than Minmatar cruisers because it has more powergrid and CPU. And because it has a good array of both medium and low slots it can fit both a shield tank and several damage modifers such as gyrostabilizers and tracking enhancers.
But while the Cyclone is the fastest battlecruiser it also suffers from the same problem as other battlecruisers - it is very slow to warp and has a large signature radius because of its mass. So if you get in trouble in one be prepared to warp out that bit earlier than in a cruiser.