Welcome to the first in a series of posts we will be putting out with the objective of helping young women discover their ideal career paths. Often, people struggle to pick the right career that fits their skill sets due to a number of reasons. This post has therefore been designed to help you identify the steps needed to become a business analyst.

This can range from a lack of understanding of what skillsets they possess that can be resourceful in an organizational setting to lack of information to a general lack of motivation due to an absence of passion. Studies indicate that lack of information and awareness is one of the factors that affect the career choices of women.

In today’s post, we will be looking at business analysis as a profession with a focus on the following areas;

1. What is business analysis?
2. What does a business analyst do?
3. An overview of the job market for business analysts
4. Responsibilities of a Business Analyst
5. Skills Required to Become a Business Analyst
6. Organizations hiring business analysts

What is Business Analysis?

There are several definitions that exist to provide an understanding of what business analysis is.

The International Institute of Business Analysis defines it as “the practice of enabling change in an organizational context, by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders”. While the Project Management Institute defines it as “Identifying business needs. Recommending relevant solutions. Working with stakeholders to elicit requirements. Analyzing, defining, documenting and managing requirements”.

Both definitions have some common denominators – the identification and definition of need, stakeholder engagement, and recommending solutions with the objective of delivering value. These can be viewed as some of the core principles that underline the practice of business analysis. This brings us to the next question…

What does a Business Analyst do?

In very simple terms, a business analyst is simply a person who acts as a bridge between the IT department and the business department. A business analyst uses data analysis to elicit or extract, understand, and document business processes, goods, services, and software products. A business analyst’s job is to help drive business efficiency through their understanding of both IT and business operations. That means the person has to be fluent in “IT and business-speak”.

Overview of the Job Market for Business Analysts

Now you have a general understanding of what business analysts do, you might be wondering what the job outlook for business analysts is like.

As technology continually advances, now more than ever business analysts are in high demand. The reason is simple. Someone has to make sure that resources are being prioritized for the right products and services. The evolution of digital products is the driving factor behind the field of business analysis.

Business analysts make an average of $70,000 per year. For a none core-tech role, that is a pretty decent amount of money. Indeed actually reports that entry-level BAs can take home an average of $63,000 per annum while those with 8-12 years of experience can take home as much as $88,000, per year. They also identified Intuit, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Oracle, Microsoft and Google as being among the top 10 companies hiring business analysts.

Source: Glassdoor

This simply tells you that you require zero coding knowledge or experience to take on a decent role in a technology company.

Responsibilities of a Business Analyst

To function optimally in this role, it is important that you understand what the role entails. Although the job description may differ across companies and organizations, there are some common denominators that would be highlighted here.

1. Requirement scope – They identify and drive the organization’s business objectives. They are at the forefront of understanding the challenges and problems plaguing the business in addition to coming up with solutions to address those issues.
2. Business requirement documentation – A business requirement document, is a document that outlines the specifications of a product or piece of software that the client wants the firm to work on. It is consulted by all parties during the course of the project. It helps to ensure that the needs of the clients, as well as the stakeholders, are addressed.
3. Development of use cases – They support the development team in the design of solutions to specific problems.
4. They are highly involved in stakeholder management – This entails ensuring that all primary and secondary groups of persons that will interact with the finished products are well catered for.
5. Implementation – They support the rollout and implementation of the finished work.

Skills Required to Become a Business Analyst

The skills required to take on the role of a business analyst will be grouped into soft skills and hard skills for the purpose of this article. Please note that most organizations do not require you to possess all the skills listed here. However, it is helpful to arm yourself with some basic skills to gain an entry-level position.

Business Analyst Soft Skills

• Communication
• Sound business acumen or basic entrepreneurial skills
• Presentation skills
• Stakeholder Engagement

Business Analyst Hard Skills

• JIRA – Product Tracking Software
• Google Spreadsheet or Microsoft Excel – For basic data analysis
• Project Management
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Access

In subsequent posts, we would bring you a summary of courses and training you can take to get you well on your way to becoming a business analyst.

What do you think about this post? Do let us know by leaving some feedback in the comment section below.