Key Skills Every Business Analyst Needs | Free eBook

Business analysts are people who study and document the market environment, business processes, and systems. Through data analysis and IT, they help businesses improve their products, processes, and software. BAs are responsible for bridging the gap between technology and the business using data analytics to deliver data-driven recommendations, assess processes, determine requirements and reports to executives and stakeholders.

Being a business analyst requires being agile, responsive, tech-savvy, and a people-focused professional. Remember, you're in the world of business, and trends constantly come and go. And in a technologically evolving world, a BA needs to adapt and develop more innovative solutions for constantly rising issues by utilizing their IT skills to their advantage and stay ahead of the competition. A BAs role shifts from servicing to partnering to delivering outcomes. Some of the new-age skills in high demand are data skills, design expertise, and product management.

Business analysts require a blend of hard skills and soft skills. Though the hard skills can be acquired through training, the soft skills are developed with experience and honed through personal aptitude and inherent ability.

Today's BAs play a crucial role in the entire life cycle of a project. If a business analyst lacks the skills discussed here, the project will likely fall apart or have an unsatisfactory outcome.

Business Skills for Business Analysts include analytical problem-solving, effective communication, creative thinking, and industry knowledge. Along with these, there are some major soft skills and techniques every business analyst should be aware of in the world of business.

Determine & Access Accurate Data

The data that you use for projects must be concrete. Otherwise, the whole point of collecting the data becomes useless. Get a precise, visual analysis of the data and make sure to clean it. This technique is used heavily in the industry because it lessens the chances of going with the wrong strategy. A good BA should be able to burrow through the data and come out with meaningful insights.

Defining The Problem

In order to solve something, you have to understand what the problem is. The good news is, you'll most likely find yourself paired up with experts who will give you key information to determine what exactly you're dealing with. Rigorous document analysis and a precise description of the problem hold the key to effective solutions. Once you have assessed the data and the information, you can then find a way to develop a solution.

Analyze Data & Interpret Solution Models

Take the acquired, relevant data and use different statistical techniques to build models that help in faster decision-making. A maintenance model with solution prediction is one good example.

Share Results

You will be interacting with stakeholders, where key decisions will be made based on what you have provided. This is the part where your own due diligence will come into play. If things don't pan out, you will likely be the scapegoat. If the information you have shared turns out to be accurate and leads to the success of the project, then you will be hailed as the driving force behind that success. Be sure you lay things out visually for the stakeholders so they can easily understand what you're presenting. Basically, you need to make the data' come alive' so that the stakeholders can interpret it easily and without ambiguity. It is vital to have experience using data-reporting tools to give solid presentations of the project schematics with the right visualizations so that it is easy for stakeholders to grasp the outputs.

Documentation

It is vital that you document what works & what doesn't throughout working on a project. Documenting everything you are doing will help you improve in the long run. Whether a project succeeds or falls below expectations, you can go back into your notes to figure out what went right or what went wrong. This is a proven winning formula for building experience and polishing your BA skills. On the flip side, repeating the same mistakes could lead to you being on the unemployment line.

Competent Verbal Communication

Business Analysts are responsible for analyzing data and communicating the results to senior management and other stakeholders, so communication is one of the most important skills required. You should be able to make your points and ask your questions clearly and unambiguously. For example, if a particular stakeholder is not from the technical domain, you should be able to communicate with them without using any technical jargon.

Time Management

This skill is the most important of all those required by business analysts. BAs must first understand their priorities before scheduling their day.

Multitasking is an essential sub-skill in time management. It allows you to perform multiple tasks at once, saving time and allowing you to focus on other work. A Business Analyst must attend to important work commitments and be able to balance work and personal life.

In the organization’s life, projects are for a very short duration. Organizational requirements exist for a much more extended period than those projects. BAs are responsible for working on requirements for multiple projects with a larger number of stakeholders over the years of association with the organization. In today's high-tech landscape, the BA role takes many new shapes and dimensions. It is crucial to improve your technical and people skills to become a successful business analyst. You should also master data skills and their application across the project to be a sought-after BA.

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