Who is Business Analyst?
Business Analyst performs the task of understanding business change needs, assessing the business impact of those changes, capturing, analyzing and documenting requirements and supporting the communication and delivery of requirements with relevant stakeholders. The business analyst role is often seen as a communication bridge between IT and the business stakeholders. Business analysts must be great verbal and written communicators, tactful diplomats, problem solvers, thinkers and analyzers – with the ability to engage with stakeholders to understand and respond to their needs in rapidly changing business environments.
Content Overview
Business Analyst job role is closely related with business processes, organizational structure, goals and procedures to identify current problems and determine fact-based solutions.
A business analyst is not simply a scribe who records what customers say. The BA is an investigator who asks questions that stimulate the customers’ thinking, seeking to uncover hidden information and generate new ideas. It’s fine for a BA to propose requirements that might meet customer needs, provided the customers agree that those requirements add value before they go into the product. A BA might ask customers, “Would it be helpful if the system could do X?” The customer might reply, “No, that wouldn’t do much for us.” Alternatively, the customer might reply, “You could do that? Wow, that would be great! We didn’t even think to ask for that feature, but it would save our users a lot of time.” – Karl Wiegers
Essential Skills You Need
To be a Business Analyst you need to have knowledge in below fields:
- Business metrics for any data driven company and assisting with the business case
- Business case development
- Written and verbal communication, including technical writing skills
- Be master on data analysis using excel and all statistical functions in excel
- Good knowledge in Databases like MySql, Teradata, MongoDB etc.
- Should be expert in BI Tools like : Tableau and QlikView and QlikSence.
- Leadership skill
“Business analysts must have a thick skin: thick enough to take feedback on documents and receive unexpected answers to questions!” ― Laura Brandenburg
Land Your First Business Analyst Position
Step 1: Understand the Role and Determine if You Want to be a Business Analyst
First you should understand what does a business analyst do on daily basis. What is the critical activities they really perform for the organization? Analysts apply their skills towards a specific field, or domain such as the insurance, health, or finance sectors. They closely work with managers, IT, and relevant stakeholders to develop systems and solutions that drive the company forward. Various issues force a company to make adjustments. Inefficient systems, outdated policies, and unsuitable equipment are examples. A business analyst must spot barriers to progress and competitiveness and suggest ways to overcome them.
Once you understand what they basically do now its time to determine I’m an “X” and I want to be a BA.
“Business Analysis is the set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.”
Step 2: Acquire and Leverage Skills
The very next step is to analyze and identify your current capabilities or skills and compare it with those that are essential for the job role mentioned above.
Step 3: Apply Business Analysis to Your Career and Gain Experience
Apply your acquired knowledge and valuable expertise and skills. You can can boost their portfolios through certification or taking some massive online courses on BA.
If you’re thinking to enter into the BA field, you can also apply for internships while you’re at college or some other institutions. Then gain experience through an entry-level position. You’ll work with a team of consultants or senior analysts, and you can expand your knowledge and skills. Review your educational background, work experience
and make a list.
Step 5: Analyze for Skill and Knowledge Gaps against Your Desired Career
Business analysis is about identifying business needs and solving problems. There are many techniques used by a BA. You may have experience in modeling data or processes or experience planning and estimating work, presenting, creating business cases, creating and conducting training. Evaluate yourself and understand the skills gap you have and try to fill that gap.