HOW TO BECOME A BUSINESS ANALYST IN 2021?
( Role of Business Analyst, Skills required, Challenges, Future in Business Analyst, Job Opportunity)
In today’s scenario business, companies tend to do various projects across several functions. Each project involves different stakeholders who have got specific skill-sets on the job. In today’s competitive environment, businesses require themselves to adapt continuously to the ongoing change with activeness and earliness.
A business analyst plays an important role in handling and driving the ongoing project through continuously monitoring and updating the status to all stakeholders involved in a project.
Business analysts are a bridge, acting as an intermediary between the cross-functional teams or between the requirements of both parties across the board.
ROLE OF A BUSINESS ANALYST:-
Business Requirement Document
The role of a business analyst usually starts during the generation of any new project. Their first task is to start by understanding the client’s requirement. The document usually involves the preparation of a complete understanding of the scope of the project’s work and communicating the entire team about that document to take their impression. After finalizing the document, the same will be shared with the client, and approval will be taken for further development.
Budgeting and planning
A goal without a plan is just aspiration. Therefore, once the scope of work is finalized, the next phase is “budgeting and planning”. This involves clear segregation of responsibilities and embassy of work to each stakeholder involved in the project. Planning is the most vital step in determining the timelines of completion and costs involved in the finalization of the project. The project manager also involves in this round. Although the role of business analyst sounds similar to the project manager, it doesn’t always necessarily need to be that way.
Project managers take support from business analysts for the development of projects and forecast the details of costing; while business analyst focuses on techno commercial aspects of the project.
Execution and Coordination
After the work is authorized to each stakeholder, next comes the phase of execution. Execution involves the effective designate of work for all the team members of a project. Delegation of responsibilities depends on the matrix of organization and type of project work. If it is a technical project, business analysts ensure development work and testing of each phase of the project before it is handed over to the client. If it is a non-technical project, business analyst ensures each aspect involved in the current phase of a project is executed.
Change Management
Depending on the nature of work, typically during the development phase projects usually require a slight replacement from the initial plan. Effective planning usually ensures minimal scope for deviations in the scope of work of any project. If the client requires to change the scope of the project during execution, the same need to be taken into account and communicated to the concerned stakeholders. Then the project manager adjusts the pricing as per the new scope of work and releases the updated schedule of delivery of the project.
Reporting and final Delivery
To continuously update the status of the project to all participants in the vital role of the Business Analyst. Constantly updating about the progress of the project ensures all teams are on the same page with respect to the status of execution. Preparation of reports involves in this project. Reports are used by the management to get to know the ongoing work’s status without going too much into detail. Once the work is completed as per the scope of work, finally delivery needs to be sent to the client along with the details of final billing.
SKILLS REQUIRED FOR A BUSINESS ANALYST:-
To become a unique and innovative Business Analyst, they should behave the following skill sets;
Technical Skills
Communication Skills
Planning and Leadership Skills
Good listening Skills
Ability to understand empowered objective
Being able to run Meetings with Stakeholders
Being responsible for Time management
CHALLENGES FACED BY BUSINESS ANALYSTS IN THEIR DAY-TO-DAY WORK:-
A Business Analyst will be faced some challenges in their day-to-day work, that are mentioned in below;
Lack Of Clarity
During the preparation of the business requirement document, the detailed scope of work has to be prepared and reviewed through the client up to satisfaction.The same needs to be run by the internal stakeholders who are expected to execute the work hands-on. If there is any mistake about the scope of the work, the same needs to be clarified mutually through communication. If anything that’s promised is not delivered, it will have an implication on costs for both parties at a later stage. Also developers need to be taken an acknowledge in account before promising about any feature of the project.
Change Management
It is the most frustrating aspect of any project. As a developer put in a lot of effort in building a feature, they often are not appreciative about doing any sort of rework. So, carefully analyzing the direction of status during the implementation phase.
Conflict Management
Planning and Requirement building phases are usually smooth as they don’t involve any implementation. However, during change management if there is any difference of opinion, one often needs to take blame or responsibility for being able to continue the upcoming business cycle. This leads to resistance in dealing with one another. The project manager at this stage needs to step in and steer clear of all arising conflicts. To avoid such conflicts, a business analyst should document all sorts of communication along with reports.
Wrapping Up
Business analyst skills are a combination of hard skills and soft skills. If you want to be a successful business analyst, it will always help you to work on your people skills as well as bettering your capabilities.
DOSE BUSINESS ANALYST HAVE A FUTURE ?
organizations are dependent on Business Analyst to guide them in the right direction and provide advice on the best practices to be followed. Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and IoT have the power to significantly impact businesses and provide data patterns. More than half of the working population will require upskilling by 2022 and up to 85% of companies will adopt big data analytics. The role of business analyst may transform with these changes, but the demand will not die. Business Analytics are required in every industry, from leading financial institutions to online e-commerce leaders like Amazon. The future is bright and now is the time to up skill and reach your career goals.
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Job offers for Business Analyst rises every year, especially for the IT sector. The average salary of Business Analyst is estimated around $80,000-$130,000, even at entry level. International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is growing exponentially indicating increasing demand of Business Analyst. Business Analyst always remain an organization priority since they have to work in a close place to top executives, clients and stakeholders.
According to U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Business Analyst job are predicted to increase by 19% between 2012 and 2022.
