Business Analyst as a profession is getting in demand over the years. As it has evolved over the years as a BA one needs to know the way ahead and the skills/aspects to focus to get ahead in their career.

BA’s not only need to have a good balance of technical and functional/domain knowledge as well got to have a good set of behavioral skills. Some of the essential behavioral skills that a BA must develop and hone for all times to come are:

• Ability to communicate effectively with various stakeholders
• Ability to balance the various demands/needs of the stakeholders
• Asking the right questions
• Ability to influence without authority
• The perspective to see/visualize the bigger picture
• Great interpersonal skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Analytical thinking skills etc. to name a few

The top trends of the years to come are already visible in the market and here is a humble attempt to put down some from the industry trends:

1. Business Analyst as a profession is going to be in demand – Global employment survey shows that there is going to be growing demand for BAs over the coming years
2. Agile is the way to go - More and more focus is going to be on agile projects than traditional project execution
3. Gather requirements on priority - Hence the focus is going to be more on gathering requirements on priority than trying to gather the whole set of requirements
4. Focus more on tools and techniques – More and more focus is going to be on tools than on the documentation
5. Less of documentation more on communication – As a BA the ability to communicate and convince stakeholders is going to be more critical than writing great requirements documents
6. Business Analyst’s need to be multi-skilled with PM skills as well – The convergence of roles of BA and PM is on the rise as the focus moves more and more towards being multi-skilled
7. Churning of data and analytics – Analytics is going to be a great skill to acquire for most of the BAs since the focus is moving more towards churning of data, predictive analysis, and reporting.
8. More emphasis on certifications – With more and more global bodies like IIBA, PMI and IREB focusing on BA skills and gaining momentum certifications are going to be more in demand incorporates and competency frameworks
9. Enhanced focus on business value than project activities and documentation – Deliver more business value and solution of the future than sticking to the project milestones
10. Delivering better results and future proof solutions – Focus more on solutions that deliver better results and higher ROI and solutions that are going to last for longer.

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