Introduction
Business Analysis is a popular, global profession and subject area. A Business Analyst is a conduit resource that operates between business and technology respectively. Skilled in communication, analysis, storytelling, software development methodologies and more, a Business Analyst plays an important role in the development, migration, understanding and deployment of software solutions across a plethora of industries.
In 2022 however, the Business Analysis profession is changing. More and more traditional Business Analysts are retraining. They are electing to study more analytical subjects as the demand for these skills are growing. Subjects around data management and analytics are growing in popularity. An understanding of Business Analytics and Intelligence provides a more robust and comprehensive rigor to analytical proceedings and more employers are seeking these skills from Business Analysts. You can read about the differences and similarities between business analysis and analytics right here for more information.
Fastest Growing Skills for Business Analysts
According to LinkedIn Learning, the most common courses taken by people whose job roles is Business Analyst is presented in the following graph:
LinkedIn has a network of some 500 million users, some of whom are “Business Analysts.” Of those who elect to learn through the platform these are the top 5 courses with their annual growth from last year.
As you can clearly see, more traditional BA subjects such as Agile methodologies, or Requirements gathering, or Business Process mapping do not appear. Why is this? The demands of both the global economy and employees appear to be shifting. More and more companies now demand different skills, and many BAs appear to be cognizant of this and are adapting accordingly.
Business Analyst: Trends
According to ITJobsWatch, a UK based service that monitors and tracks trends within the UK IT job market “Business Analysis” as a search term has declined by 25% when compared to this time in 2019 and 2020 respectively. On this graph, the closer to zero, the better, because the rank is higher (most popular = number 1). Therefore, the 2019 position may be “lower” but it is actually “higher;” the measurement is inversed.
Just like the LinkedIn data, Business Analysts from both an employee and employer perspective are moving away from more traditional BA concepts and appear to be moving closer to more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects and skills.
As you can see from the graph above, the number of live vacancies advertised for BAs has been on a relatively steep decline. From a figure of 5,042 in 2019 to 1,808 in 2021 (so far), meaning there’s been a 64% decline in Business Analyst hires according to the ITJobsWatch data. Whilst this is only one source from one company in one country, it is worth noting.
Business Analytics within Current Job Market
Data is more valuable than oil in today’s world, so the ability to convey stories and implement business strategy derived from data is essential. In virtually all industries, banking, retail, medicine, insurance, FMCG, finance, entertainment and so on, a company’s ability to be able to utilize its abundance of user and business data is crucial to survival and success. It is no surprise then that Business Analytics is trending higher on both ITJobsWatch and Google Trendsrespectively.
For this graph above, we can see the two terms fluctuate in terms of interest and searches. Whilst there’s no clear distinction, Business Analysis might be on a slow decline due to the changing interests and the direction in which the economy is moving, the two lines are almost inseparable.
Within the UK job market for example, employees according to ITJobsWatch have 25% less interest in Business Analysis as a skill and as a profession. None of the top courses enrolled by Business Analysts and none of them were for more traditional BA topics.
The Rise of Analytics, SaaS and Product Ownership
As a skill set, employers now seek Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) implementation skills up to 25% more than two previous years. When you consider the fact that no proposal or research finding within a respected business environment can be taken seriously without some data presented, it makes you reconsider how critical a good understanding of data is rapidly becoming.
The Rank row highlights the top 100 roles within the technology market. As you can see “SaaS” as a skill is becoming more important to employers, climbing some 48 places in just 2 years. The lower the Rank, the higher the demand for the skills.
When you look at related and traditional roles such as Project Management you can see a steady decline in interest from employers:
What has been a steady and safe profession in Project Management is on the decline. This role and profession are closely related to Business Analysis and these metrics highlight employer’s appetite is shifting away from traditional roles and skills and demanding more analytical and data friendly skills across the board.
As you can see “Product Ownership” as a skill is very low in terms of its historical performance. However, this trend is changing, moving up 60% in terms of employer popularity.
Salaries
When we look at median salaries from the UK, we can see our point even clearer:
Conclusion
This report was designed to provide a small glimpse of the current state of Business Analysis as a profession. Whilst there certainly no need for panic or doom or gloom the data presented here does give you some insight into the current state of the BA market as a whole.
Summary:
· More and more traditional BAs are opting for more analytical and data driven courses
· Employers’ appetite is changing towards Business Intelligence/Analytics
· Related professions like Project Management are declining in popularity and relevance
· Product Ownership and SaaS management is growing in terms of skills and relevance
Traditional BA skills like communication, organization, stakeholder management and so on will ALWAYS be needed, in fact, those skills are more important than ever. What might be required is a pivot, just so you stay relevant and competitive.
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