The Making of a Business Analyst

Introduction

The role of a Business Analyst is crucial but trends reveal that as of now it is somewhat undervalued. Its importance will increase with the trend towards Lean and Agile development. Other factors that may increase the demand for a BA can be Digital Transformation and Change in Processes and Operations. The role of a BA is lucrative mainly because they are the link between the firm’s capability and business objectives. A skilled BA directly affects the company’s profitability. A BA may serve as multiple roles such as Product Manager, App Developer, UX Designer depending upon if the firm is having a new BA position or in small companies. The role of a BA involves Problem Analysis, Customer Knowledge, Product Development, provide Business Value, Stakeholder Management, Managing Innovation, and look after Sustainable Business Improvement.

Skillset Required

A Business Analyst must have an analytical band of mind that is when they’re posed with a problem, they must be able to approach the solution in an analytical where the emphasis is given more to the approach taken to reach the solution rather than the final solution. Good problem-solving skills are essential skills for a BA.

Knowledge of Statistics

Being able to write code isn’t necessarily required to work as an analytics professional. Statistical software such as SPSS, SAS, Sage, Mathematica, and even Excel can be used when managing and analyzing data.

SQL Knowledge

SQL is one of the most important tools in an analytics professional’s toolkit. SQL queries are written to extract and analyze data from the transactions database and develop visualizations to present to stakeholders.

Communication skills

Being able to present findings in a clear and concise manner is fundamental to making sure that all players understand insights and can put recommendations into practice. People working in the analysis must be able to tell a story with data through strong writing and presentation skills.

Solid Analytical and Product Management skills

This means that BAs must have basic knowledge of best practices in the trade. Learning about the various different frameworks, processes, and methodologies out there and forming your own product management strategies.

Key Responsibilities

Understanding the requirements of the business

A business analyst puts in a lot of time, asking questions. There may be a need to conduct interviews, read, observe and align the developers with their target goal. They also need to carry out analysis and look for solutions for both, the organization, as well as the customer.

Analyzing information

The BA will have to interact with the development team and the technical architects, to design the layout and define accurately what the final solution should look like.

Communicating with a broad range of people

The audience watching presentations of Business Analysts are senior executives of the organization, as well as key management people of IT. Building an open dialogue, validating that you understand what you have heard, and communicating what you have gathered to the stakeholders is extremely important to impress the stakeholders or investors, which will have a notable effect on the growth of the business.

Documenting the findings

BA evaluates the needs and ensures that the implementation team has gathered comprehensive details that would be required for creating and implementing the process. This step involves working with a wide range of stakeholders and consumers across the company to guarantee their requirements, as well as knowledge, are combined into a detailed document about what they will actually build.

Risk management

BAs are responsible for any hindrance that comes in the way of the company’s processes due to wrong interpretation and are also responsible to reduce the firm’s overall risk.

Tools used by Business Analysts

MS Excel

Strong knowledge and understanding of MS Excel is of utmost importance for a BA. To know more about using MS Excel to improve productivity click here. Other analytical tools that a BA uses at work are listed below.

SAS Business Analytics

SAS BA consists of various statistical tools that are used to simplify large sets of data into meaningful information in real-time. It can also be used to predict future trends using big data. To learn more about SAS click here.

Board

Board is a business analyst software tool that permits the user to create interactive and intuitive business analytics reports and dashboards. It helps create and support accurate scenario analysis and forecasting by manipulating the data supplied to scenarios.

Dundas BI

Dundas BI contains robust business analytics tools, it provides automated analytics, trend forecasting, and a high-level dashboard that helps users visualize data and create business analytics reports through easy-to-use drag-and-drop features.

Tableau Big Data Analytics

Tableau is used for unstructured text analysis. It contains reliable statistical tools, empowers users to perform an in-depth analysis of social media networks, and predict patterns based on current and historical data.