Depending on the industry, project, or business needs, a business analyst is an advisor who is responsible for investigating and analysing business situations, identifying, and evaluating options for improving business systems, elaborating, and defining business requirements and ensuring efficient implementation and use of information systems in line with the needs of the business.

Because of their versatile skill set, it is common to find business analysts in various parts of an organisation, including IT, business operations, procurement, Human Resources (HR) and so on.

As businesses adjust to the technological landscape, a terrain where ‘big-tech’ has revolutionised the way business operates, IT business analysts have been a staple for many large, medium, and small organisations for over thirty years, and are growing in influence and significance every year.

What Does a Business Analyst Do?

Business Analysts identify areas of a business which require improvement, to then assist in implementing the necessary changes to help improve the areas of inefficiency. Business analysts often work in close collaboration with various stakeholders within the business hierarchy to articulate their findings and help execute the changes required.

Tasks can often include:

• Gathering,managing, analysing, and documenting functional and non-functional requirements
• Business Process mapping the current-state and the proposed state (“As-Is” and “To-Be”)
• Using SQL and Excel to analyse large data sets.
• Using Jira Or other software development management tools to write Epics, User Stories and Tasks
• Working closely with Solution and or Enterprise Architects to understand the technological solution.
• Working with various stakeholders to guide business team(s) with proposed changes being implemented.

Therefore, a business analyst operates at the intersection of today’s state and tomorrow’s improved state – a business analyst is therefore a business change professional who operates at the intersection of business and business change.

What is the Difference Between a Business Analyst and Data Analyst?

In various organisations,a business analyst would be expected to support all findings with data. However,there are many business analysts who are not as data-centric, focusing more on agile (and sometimes waterfall) software development, where the role is closer to Product Management, Product Ownership, and Scrum Master. 

Where a business analyst is expected to rely more on data, the role still differs from a data analyst for these reasons: 

• Business Analysts are expected to drive business solutions and make recommendations to a solution.
• Data Analysts are expected to conduct in-depth and rigorous data analysis to provide clarity and insights to a specific business problem.
• Data Analysts may provide insights and analysis but are not typically responsible for making recommendations.
• Business Analysts who operate in the software development space are expected to work closely with software engineers, quality assurance testers, business stakeholders and users to drive business change (through the deployment of technology), whereas a data analyst would not typically be expected to perform such tasks.

How to Become a Business Analyst

We’ve broken down in detail how you can become a business analyst here.Attaining a business analyst role typically involves acquiring skills and maybe certifications to demonstrate aptitude and dedication to transferring over from what you currently do into a business analyst role. Here is more information on breaking into business analysis: 

• ‍Understand Your transferrable skills – already being a professional or being new to the workplace isn’t the barrier you’d might expect. Every profession requires excellent communication, stakeholder management, hard work and other common/universal skills. Therefore, if you’re new to business analysis, highlight your transferrable skills.‍
• Communication– as mentioned, communication skills are critical to business analysis. As a business analyst, you’d be expected to communicate with several stakeholders within an organisation, including management. Being able to present your analysis and ideas in a coherent manner,both verbally, in writing and business process diagrams is pivotal to success.‍
• Business Analysis Methodologies - Having a sound grasp on business analysis methodologies such as Six Sigma, Rational Unified Process, Agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming and even DevOps enables business analysts to operate in an efficient manner.‍
• Industry Expertise – The ability to understand and convey business processes to software developers is a task several business analysts must do. Even business analysts in other areas are often tasked with possessing a deep understanding of their respective domains.

Consider a Business Analysis Course

A business analysis course can provide an in-depth overview of the core tenants of business analysis.Business analysis courses are really handy if you’re interested in learning business analysis at your own pace too. Even for experienced professionals, a business analysis course can provide a refresher.

Consider a Business Analyst Certification

If you’ve taken a course, you may feel like taking your newly gained knowledge evenfurther and a business analysis certification is a great way to validate your knowledge.

Earning a certification displays commitment. It also expands one’s skillset, potentially increase learning capability, and make you stand out from your peers. These are business analyst certifications to consider:

• BCS Business Analysis
• IIBA Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA)
• IIBA Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)
• IIBA Certification of Capability in Business Analysis (CCBA)
• PMI Professional in Business Analytics (PMI-PBA)

These Certifications are particularly appealing to people wishing to make the transition from one profession into business analysis.

Apply for Entry Level Positions

Building experience is essential for most professional positions and starting new or transferring from one role to a business analyst role presents various challenges.

If You're Brand New to Working

In any role in most industries, you will start at the bottom.This is because of various factors, but lack of experience is the dominant reason, as a new professional is riskier than an experienced pro. If you find yourself in this category, business analysis courses and certifications are your best root, as they display dedication to acquiring new skills. 

If you're an Experienced Professional

For those looking to pivot into a business analysis career,besides taking a business analysis course, and potentially earning some qualifications,professionals looking to transition need to remember three critical things:

• ‍Earnings may be affected – If a person is going to be new to a role, an employer maysee the hire as a risk, therefore, giving a less experienced professional alower salary. To ensure a competitive salary, take a business analysis course where you can ensure the basics of business analysis are known. ‍
• More Importantly, emphasis on the domain/industry knowledge gained from yearsworking is an excellent way to reassure an employer. What a professional seeking to transfer from one profession to another may lack in business analysis, can’t be compensated for fully with domain knowledge, but be assisted with to a certain extent.

Next Steps

Now you know not only what a business analyst does, and you have an answer to “what does a business analyst do?” You can learn how to become a business analyst yourself. Business analysis remains a strong profession that has and still is growing as a profession, below is a graph confirming this. 

Here at Analyst Exchange, we’re passionate about training business analysts. You can select our range of courses by clicking here.