Have you ever went on a job search for a position that combines data science, analytical thinking, and making important business decisions? More and more companies are looking for someone to join their team and help them by becoming an expert on bridging IT with data analysis. Who is this person?
Business Analyst in a nutshell
As a Business Analyst, your key role is to make sure all the goals established by the company you work with, are being taken care of every step of the way, and in the end completed.
You need to keep track of the latest industry trends, assess occurring processes, and deliver data-driven solutions, in order to answer to all the business needs that may appear on your way to implementing improvements.
Why is business analysis important for the constant growth of firms? What set of skills do you need to possess to join the club of successful Business Analysts? Read on to find out.
Why Business Analysts are essential employees in modern companies?
As stated by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), the Business Analyst is an agent of change. Business Analysis is a disciplined approach to introducing and managing changes in organizations.
While identifying and defining solutions allow for the maximization of the value delivered by the organization to its stakeholders, Business Analyst works across all levels of the organization.
This specialist can be either involved in defining the strategy and creating the enterprise architecture, or supporting continuous improvement. Moreover, Business Analysts can take a leadership role by defining the goals and requirements for programs and projects.
Most important business analyst skills and abilities
Certainly, the business analyst position requires both hard skills and soft skills. According to the IIBA, some of the most important ones are:
- Oral and written communication skills
- Interpersonal and consultative skills
- Facilitation skills
- Analytical thinking and problem-solving
- Being detail-oriented and capable of delivering a high level of accuracy
- Organizational skills
- Knowledge of the business structure
- Stakeholder analysis
- Requirements engineering
- Costs benefit analysis
- Processes modeling
- Understanding of networks, databases, and other technology
Areas of professional development for Business Analyst
Number of job opportunities for Business Analysts increase every year, especially in the IT sector. Moreover, the role always remains an organization’s priority since they have to work in proximity to top executives, clients, and stakeholders. As the skills of a Business Analyst match a variety of organizations’ needs, therefore there are plenty of development paths to choose from.
Primary responsibilities of a Business Analyst
Business Analyst engages with stakeholders and users to understand how efficiency can be improved by data-driven changes in processes, products, services, hardware, and software. Their role is to articulate those ideas, but also cross-reference them against what’s technologically achievable and financially rational.
Depending on the role, BA might work with data sets to implement beneficial modifications in products, tools, software, hardware, services, or process.
The evolution of business analysis professionals into expanding roles depends on a combination of digital skills, business acumen, and targeted knowledge to improve business performance across all industries.
Don’t confuse those positions for Business Analyst
Although it is very important to understand the responsibilities of a Business Analyst, it is also worth bearing in mind what tasks and roles are not within their job description.
Job titles in IT and specialists’ main tasks
Quality Assurance Engineer
Part of the Business Analyst’s job is to develop clear business requirements and functional specifications. However, on medium to large systems, organizations require: including a documented testing methodology, equipment, and resource scheduling, writing test cases and scripts. Certainly, these things are best left to a qualified, dedicated QA Engineer.
Developer
Business Analysts often possess a deep understanding of technical concepts. They obviously need to be familiar with data architecture, network design, and programming skills. But unless the project team is small (4 people total members or less), the very different type of thinking excludes Business Analysts from programming. Business Analyst is typically driven by organizational goals, market conditions, and usability. While software development is focused on system speed, efficiency, and extensibility.
Project Manager
Many organizations use the same pool of resources to assign project managers and business analysts to projects. The reason being that some of the competences required to do each job (such as managerial skills) are the same. Project management is about responsibility for keeping everyone on task, tracking the budget, updating the schedule, and managing risks. Meanwhile, a Business Analyst is a link between stakeholders and an IT team.
NATEK Business Analysts – work IT with us!
Are you thinking of focusing your career in the IT industry and managing change in the fastest growing companies? Business Analyst position is right for you, if you are looking for a job full of challenges, and opportunities, that give you a chance to show off your skill set and ambition. Join NATEK and become a Business Analyst by applying to open positions on our career platform.