Succeed As A Business Analyst— Key Skills, Roles, and Responsibilities
Business Analyst—An Introduction
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that by 2030, the number of business analyst-type jobs will grow about 25%, more than three times as fast as the average for all roles.
According to Salary.com, the average salary of a business analyst is $77,009.
A skilled business analyst is an asset for an organization. However, there is a lot of confusion as to what a business analyst does, and what his/her roles and responsibilities are. It is not uncommon to find conflicting definitions and different sets of responsibilities for a business analyst role in different job descriptions.
While a business analyst role is diverse and can vary extensively even in the same organization, there are still some fundamental skills and responsibilities that make a business analyst. In this article, we
- Define the terms business analysis and business analyst,
- outline the difference between a business analyst and data analyst,
- outline the key responsibilities of a business analyst, and
- outline key skills sets needed for them to succeed in their role.
Business Analysis and Business Analyst -Definitions
Business analysis is a discipline used to study, understand, identify, and communicate the need for change (either problem statement or opportunity for improvement) in how organizations perform their operations, and to facilitate that change, with the ultimate goal of helping businesses thrive.
As per the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), a business analyst is any person who performs business analysis activities, no matter what their job title or organizational role may be; that is, business analysis practitioners are not limited to the job title of business analyst. They may also include other roles such as but not limited to business systems analysts, systems analysts, data analysts, usability/UX analysts, functional analysts, requirements analysts, process analysts, product managers, product owners, enterprise analysts, business architects, process consultants, business consultants, and management consultants (IIBA-NE).
The business analyst is a change agent. Business analysts understand the current state of business processes (also known as the As-Is state), propose a future state of the business processes (also known as the To-Be state), have a clear understanding of the gaps between the current state and future state, and identify and propose solutions to attain the future state. These solutions maximize the value delivered by an organization to its stakeholders.
The future state of business processes requires new ways of working that result in a great deal of change, and it is important to understand what change means to different groups of stakeholders, so as to design and implement an effective change management plan to help teams to get used to the new ways of working.
Business Analyst Versus Data Analyst
There is some confusion regarding whether business analysts and data analysts can be used interchangeably. This is because both business analysts and data analysts use data to draw conclusions and recommend/make business decisions.
Data analysts generally have strong programming skills required for data analysis and data processing are primarily focused on analyzing and processing datasets to identify patterns, trends, and discover insights.
On the other hand, business analysts are more domain driven, and use data to solve existing business problems, and are less likely to have strong programming skills. For example, while a data analyst needs to be be highly proficient in SQL, for a business analyst it is OK to have basic to intermediate SQL knowledge.
In the words of Gwen Britton, Associate Vice President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Global Campus STEM & Business Programs,
“Business analysts will tell the story of what’s happening in the business today. They’ll say, okay, this is what’s happening, this is how, and this is why we’re doing this.”
Business Analyst Responsibilities
While there are many definitions of a business analyst, some of which are conflicting, and business analyst role can vary widely even within the same organization, the key responsibilities of a business analyst are as follows:
- Understand the problem statement and elicit the current needs of stakeholders (IIBA-NE);
- Assess and consolidate information obtained from a large number of people (IIBA-NE)
- Define the current state and future state of the business process/system and understanding the gap areas;
- Define detailed requirements;
- Support implementation of the solution defined by the architects;
- Facilitate communication between different stakeholders, departments, and business units in organizations;
- Support stakeholders adopt the new ways of working.
In the IT driven world, where most solutions or at least a lot of solutions are driven by technology, business analysts’ responsibilities also include:
- Aligning the needs of business units with IT capabilities,
- Understand the gap between business and IT and serve as a “translator” between business and IT.
Business Analysts- Key Skills
Some of the most important skills and experience for a business analyst are (Pratt and White 2019):
- Oral and written communication skills, including presentation skills and documentation skills;
- Listening skills;
- Time management skills;
- Stakeholder management skills;
- Ability to run meetings/conduct workshops and interviews with stakeholders;
- Interpersonal and consultative skills, including negotiation and persuasion skills;
- Facilitation skills;
- Analytical skills;
- Technical skills (Excel and SQL);
- Critical thinking skills;
- Problem solving skills;
- Attention to detail and capability of delivering a high level of accuracy;
- Decision making skills
- Organizational skills;
- Knowledge of business structure;
- Stakeholder analysis;
- Requirements engineering;
- Costs benefit analysis;
- Processes modeling; and
- Basic understanding of systems, products, tools, networks, databases and other technology.
Business analysts’ skills comprise both soft skills (facilitation skills, interpersonal, and consultative skills) as well as hard skills (for example, documentation skills, process modeling, requirements engineering, and stakeholder analysis).
Concluding Thoughts
The business analyst role has always been, and will continue to be a challenging role, given the evolution of technologies, infrastructure, and business, and requires a combination of a variety of skills. While expectations from a business analyst may vary from project to project or even from team to team within the same organization, proficiency in the skills outlined in this article can help an individual be a effective conduit between business idea and business capability.
As a business analyst you will need to analyze data. If you are an aspiring business analyst with no data analysis, SQL or Excel knowledge, below are a list of articles that will be of help-
10 Free Websites to Learn and Practice SQL
Five Simple SQL Functions to Start With Data Profiling and Analysis
How can the SQL COUNT Function be used to Reveal Quick and Useful Data Insights
How can the SQL MIN and MAX Functions be used to Reveal Quick and Useful Data Insights
12 Best Free Websites to learn Microsoft Excel
Happy Reading! Take care!
Please do let me know whether this article was helpful, and what more you would like to read with respect to business analysis. Leave a comment here or connect on LinkedIn.
Biography: Rupa Mahanti is a consultant, researcher, speaker, data enthusiast, and author of several books on data (data quality, data governance, and data analytics). She is also publisher of “The Data Pub” newsletter on Substack.
References
- [IIBA NE]. IIBA North East Wisconsin. What is a business analyst? https://newisconsin.iiba.org/what-business-analyst Last accessed Dec 30 2021.
- Mary K. Pratt and Sarah K. White, April 17, 2019, What is a business analyst? A key role for business-IT efficiency, CIO, https://www.cio.com/article/276798/project-management-what-do-business-analysts-actually-do-for-software-implementation-projects.html
Biography: Rupa Mahanti is a consultant, researcher, speaker, data enthusiast and author. She has extensive experience and expertise in different information management disciplines, business process improvement, regulatory reporting, and more. Rupa has written many research articles on quality management, Six Sigma, information management, software engineering, environmental management, compliance, simulation, and modelling. She is the author of several books: Data Quality: Dimensions, Measurement, Strategy, Management and Governance (ASQ Quality Press), Data Governance and Compliance: Evolving to Our Current High Stakes Environment (Springer), Data Governance and Data Management: Contextualizing Data Governance Drivers, Technologies, and Tools (Springer), Data Governance Success: Growing and Sustaining Data Governance (Springer), How Data can Manage Global Pandemics: Analysing and Understanding COVID-19 (Routledge) and Data Humour.
