What Does a Business Analyst Do? Role, Qualification & Opportunities

What is Business Analysis?

All businesses operate on a set of working procedures. An expansion from small scale businesses to large corporate houses, all systems run on a set of defined standard procedures. These rules can be aimed at an operational task-projection or from a business viewpoint.

All departments in organizations work simultaneously to attain a singular goal of business development. The operating bullets define how tasks need to be done, by whom, and on what scale.

The standard operating procedures (SOPs) or business models affect the outcomes of marketing campaigns. The ultimate objective is to increase business returns and benefit more with less cost.

Business Analysis is when you dive deep into these SOPs and models to extract data and process ways to reason a project/campaigns success or failure. The analyst here works to establish data, recommend analytical stand-points, and implement changes.

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Understanding a Business Analyst

The profile of a business analyst is described best with a simple, classic example of comparing their role with a healthcare consultant.

Doctors in the healthcare industry serve a primary responsibility to treat their patients. They apply methods in consultations and medications to prescribe. The process involves:

1. Attending to their patient, 
2. Enquiring issues, 
3. Analyzing symptoms, 
4. Diagnosing results, and 
5. Prescribing medications 

Now, relate the points mentioned above with the role of a business analyst as one who:

1. Identifies problem areas in a business process
2. Determines responsible factors
3. Uses tools and techniques to formulate a solution
4. Presents the recommendation in a data-driven method, and 
5. Reports the data-driven change to processes

The responsibility of the doctor is to use their consultation skills to treat the responsible agent, causing sickness. Similarly, the responsibility of a business analyst is to use their data analysis skills to find solutions to business problems.

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Describing the Roles of Business Analyst

The position of a Business Analyst in an organization demands the use of data analytics to bridge the gap between information technology (IT) and the business.

Your business might be working on a problem that is not bringing the desired results. This is where the Business Analyst (you) will enter:

• Help the organization understand their business problem and the need to work on a particular project (if data says it is required)
• Provide solutions backed with data and business models to make the stakeholders understand the areas that would need changes
• Document those needs and requirement to implement into the business
• Come up with new plans to increase returns

By socializing with users and business leaders, you will understand how a data-driven change can alter effectiveness in existing processes. You will be needed to evaluate your idea’s technological feasibility and the company’s financial support. 

Qualifications of a Business Analyst

You need to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree to be qualified for the Business Analyst job profile. Other educational qualifications will vary with diverse industries and job requirements. Learn how to become a business analyst.

Degrees in finance, accounting, or business administration prove to be useful to satisfy job demands. It can pertain individually to business administration or be general to a distinct industry.

Be it a health sector or software IT group, the requirements on skill set and educational background will reflect demand. Specific additional courses and certifications on Business Analysis programs will prove to be useful to showcase knowledge of the subject matter.

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Skills Required

The profile expects you to be functionally productive while juggling with cost constraints and reasonable ideas for higher output. To meet the demands of the Business Analyst profile, following skills will be expected:

• Organisational Skills
  • Functioning in an organisation and collaborating with various departments
• Analytical Skills
  • Data Analysis and Interpretation
• Business Process Re-engineering
  • Remodelling processes and implementing changes in existing business plans 
• Business Administration Concepts
  • Basics of finance, accounting, marketing and operations
• Understanding technology and network models
  • Engineering processes with the help of technological competence 
• Cost-benefit Project Analysis
  • Evaluating alternate decisions and analyzing outcomes
• Orientation to details
  • Pricing and Budgeting processes require detailed inputs
• Writing Skills
  • Documenting business plans with technical information for stakeholder’s ease in understanding
• Soft-Skills
  • Communication
• Ability to think out-of-the-box
  • Problem-solving
• Being an Influential Leader
  • Interpersonal skills
• Presentation Skills
  • Demonstrating chosen pathways to valuate maximum profit
• Technical Skills
  • It is not necessary to be a computer programmer for a business analyst profile. The job demands intermediate computer operating skill with the use of spreadsheets, database programs, and software.

Learn more about Business analyst skills.

Industry Opportunities

With the upscaling rise in demand, various industries are opening up positions of Business Analysts. The impressive profile and job description are leading many professionals to opt for this role as the next step of their career growth-plan.

Some of the industries witnessing a rising demand of business analysts are:

• Government Organisations and Public Sector
• Information Technology 
• Small-scale businesses
• Multinational Business Corporations
• Health and Hospital Services
• Finance and Banking Institutions
• Consulting Firms

Business Analyst Job Description

The business analyst works incorporating technology and data-driven analysis to offer business solutions.

They report the same to responsible executives and stakeholders with the following tasks:

• Planning and Monitoring Business Plans
• Defining Role
  • Establishing the scope of the business and IT projects
  • Levelling out problem areas at each step in the organisation’s workflow
• Analysing Variance
  • Investigate differences between actual and planned behavior, sales difference
  • Initiate changes from the conventional and existing business processes
• Budgeting and Pricing
  • Setting aside financial asset for a business plan
  • Defining each business step’s price
• Business Forecasting
  • Predicting future developments in sales, expenditures and profits
  • Preparing with adjustments for unexpected events

Obligations on Accountability

Your business could be a product, service, software or hardware based. Working on data sets, all that is required from you is to improve efficiencies and add value to the business.

Your duties as a business analyst include:

• Quality Assurance
• Project Management
  • Conduct surveys on projects
  • Alter existing processes to increase returnsFormulate business cases
  • Carry out statistical analysis
  • Take steps to make the internal departments for effective
• Product Management
  • Modify product and service offerings
  • Collaborate technical and process re-engineering
  • Present data-driven recommendation on changes
  • Invent new systems

Reasoning solutions on the scale of financial structure and feasible operations, you will be responsible for:

• Design test cases on business plans
• Review cases to optimise returns
• Manage the scope of business projects
• Analyse acceptance of the project under review
• Instal methods to modify changes
• Deploy mechanisms to increase returns

Expectations on know-how

A lot is expected here, from inspiring others to devising plans to scale heights in business growth. Following are some of the requirements from the profile of a business analyst in the organisation:

• Understanding how the business in the particular organisation works and operational process flows
• Working on multiple projects to meet deadlines 
• Collaborating with project managers on the mission
• Brainstorming ideas to meet ends with multiple teams and stakeholders
• Documenting loopholes from standard procedures
• Re-evaluate opportunities on business returns
• Documenting processes to refine the problem that is to be solved
• Add details to the solution with technological inputs.

Conclusion

As leaders in growth, business analysts are required to indulge in various tasks of the organisation’s framework to be the catalysts for change.

Companies across both IT and e-commerce sectors pay excellent compensation to deserving candidates who can add value to their organization. Apart from the regular educational qualifications and work experience, having certification in Job-ready Program in Business Analytics also helps in bagging jobs that offer high-level salaries.