Which industry has the highest demand for a Business Analyst?

When people ask about demand of this profession, I always say that it’s an evergreen role.

The need for a Business Analyst is already at a higher number in almost all types of industries and it will only increase in the foreseeable future as well. Why so?

These are the skills a BA brings to the table:

1. Good analysis of different forms of information and data.
2. Great communication skills that help with colorful stakeholders.
3. An amazing solution driven approach to improve business efficiency.

Hence, in today’s competitive edge, whether it’s a marketing initiative, a sales pitch or a manufacturing field, all are after a BA to twist and tweak their process or product for better growth.

For the starter, let’s mold this question as:

Do product based or service based industries have more demand for a BA?

There is no specific data to answer this. Both types of industries have their own working structure and hence the demand for a BA follows:

The only difference will be the way things happen, such as:

Service based

• Opportunity to work in different domains simultaneously, while handling multiple projects.
• You’ll be working for a client.
• Documentation can be a bit extensive sometimes, depending on the client’s need.

Product based

• Focus on a particular product you’ve been assigned.
• You are your own client.
• You decide with your team what needs to be documented for smooth work to occur.

Differences can be more than this, depending on the organisations and how they work. But it’s obvious that both product & service based companies have their own sets of necessities to have a BA onboard.

Although I would still stick to my point that most industries are now moving towards the idea of having a Business Analyst to solve any business problem with an innovative mindset.

But for the sake of simplicity, you can consider 4–5 industries to be leading in this race:

IT

• What are these? — Industries that produce hardware & software and can provide services related to the internet.
• Why BA? — they help the companies understand the ongoing process & technologies and manage the changes needed to improve it.
• Demand is huge due to an increase in technological competition and open opportunities in the market for businesses.
• Examples — Apple, HP, IBM, etc.

Business/professional consulting

• What are these? — Third party industries that provide expertise on a matter with a monetary charge to it.
• Why BA? — They help clients with their time and expertise in return for money, to solve their specific business problem and suggest the needed changes.
• Demand is huge as businesses are moving towards improving their performance on a regular basis to better their standings in the market and for that they surely need a consultant to overcome challenges and increase revenue.
• Examples — McKinsey, BCG, etc.

Healthcare/pharma

• What are these? — Those who provide medical services or equipments/drugs, medical insurance and similar services, etc.
• Why BA? — They focus on optimising operations and managing the massive amount of data they acquire effectively.
• Although their domain might restrict towards healthcare industry only, the demand is huge due to the rapid growth of this industry and medical advances, and they need a team of experts to guide them for better management.
• Examples — Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, etc.

Finance/insurance

• What are these? — Offers anything related to managing your money and funds.
• Why BA? — They help companies examine data and make better business decisions in terms of strategy, process modelling & technical systems (data can be anything related to investment, operations, etc.).
• Demand is huge due to more inclination towards digitization of products & services.
• Examples — Wells Fargo, Paypal, etc.

Others

As I said before, BAs are not just restricted to the above fields. Other sectors are stretching their hands towards them now as well.

For example, manufacturing industries are hiring BAs who can help them optimise their processes, travel industries need BAs to ensure operational excellence and to provide solutions for better customer experiences.

Not only this, the opportunities for a BA with a digital mindset is now waiting at the doors of the Digital Marketing space too, considering technology as a major factor here.

Apart from all these discussions, being a BA you have to remember that business can be any type of business, and hence your expertise should not be confined to a limited area.

No matter which industry is demanding more BAs and which one is not, the focus always remains on solving any business problem with your analytical skills. You never know which industry or domain you might end up working in.

To avoid being constrained by a specific industry, always keep an open mind and the ability to learn any kind of industrial expertise.

Bonus tip: This could be a great answer to the interview question “Why do you want to change your domain and work with our company?”

Follow Bhavini Sapra for more such insights of a BA life and how you can get to live one.

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