What does a Business Analyst do? Where to study? How much is the salary of a Business Analyst? All the information in this article.
The job of a business analyst is to take data and turn it into information that can be used by the company. It is a career that has been rapidly growing in demand in recent years.
Business analysts, or business analysts, can identify problems in virtually any part of an organization, including IT processes, organizational structures, or staff development.
As companies look to increase efficiency and reduce costs, business analytics has become an important component of their operations.
What is a Business Analyst?
The Business Analyst is a professional who helps companies improve business processes to achieve certain business objectives.
The mission of the Business Analyst is to make organizations and processes more agile and efficient and to help companies implement the necessary changes to remain competitive in the relevant market.
The Business Analyst first analyzes the current situation and business processes, identifies needs, and based on the evidence gathered, identifies solutions to meet these needs.
What does a business analyst do?
BAs or business analysts are responsible for creating new models that support business decisions by working closely with IT and financial reporting teams to establish initiatives and strategies to improve import and optimize costs.
A business analyst’s job description generally includes:
- Creating detailed business analyses, outlining problems, opportunities, and solutions for a company.
- Using SQL and Excel to analyze large data sets.
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Compiling graphs, charts, and other data visualization elements.
- Planning and tracking
- Creating financial models to support business decisions.
- Project, budget, and perform variance analysis and financial analysis.
- Understand business strategies, objectives, and requirements
- Reporting to management
What skills should you possess?
- Communication skills: Adequate communication is necessary for business analysts and is a requirement for corporate managers and CEOs
- Technical skills: Technical skills are vital for business analysts because they enable you to design critical business systems and evaluate them to understand how they can affect your business. In addition, knowledge can improve your confidence, allowing you to share essential information based on solid technical aptitude.
- Understanding objectives: Understanding proposed objectives is one of the most important business analyst skills. Sometimes, senior and middle management can communicate what needs to be done. However, most of the time, they will only give a summary of the requirements to be met. This will give you only a vague idea of the requirements. It is up to the analyst to turn this silhouette of ideas into a solid understanding of what is needed.
- Problem-Solving: The primary function of a business analyst is to design solutions to problems faced by companies. However, every company has unique needs and a good analyst will need to adapt to each one. Adaptability and flexibility mean that you can develop customized solutions for companies.
- Time management: That’s one of the skills needed for business analysts. Time management is important as a business analyst’s work schedule is full of tasks and he has to make sure that his commitment to each of them is met. Understanding priorities and then scheduling daily tasks as needed is the most fundamental step in time management for business analysts.
What tasks do you perform?
- Understand what a company does, including the most important processes through which it performs its work.
- Evaluate the efficiency, cost, and results of those processes.
- Compile recommendations for the business on process adjustments, potentially impactful new technologies, or other areas of improvement.
- Lead the research, design, and implementation of any technology or process that requires more substantial technical understanding within the group, including the development of functional specifications.
- Manage projects, develop project plans, monitor performance and ensure timely turnover of deliverables.
- Communicate changes, recommendations, and procedures to business teams.
- Stay engaged with business leaders to help them understand how changes affect the organization’s objectives.
What tools are used in business analysis?
- Balsamiq: It is among the leading business analysis tools for creating wireframes. The tool uses brainstorming sessions and provides immediate feedback from stakeholders.
- SWOT: Popularly used for strategic analysis and business assessment.
- Pencil: Prototyping helps to get customer confirmation of requirements. Therefore, it is an important part of the requirements-gathering phase. Also, rapid prototyping helps the customer understand the look and feel.
- Microsoft Office: The entire office suite is very useful for the tasks of a business analyst. PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Visio.
- Rational Requisite Pro: It is one of the best business analysis tools for requirements management. This tool provides a robust solution for business requirements management for large projects.
- Trello: It is a collaboration tool for business analysis that helps to collaborate and communicate between teams and share information securely. Along with that, it allows the administrator to analyze business data.
- SmartDraw: Business analysts often use SmartDraw as a business analysis tool to simplify their project management work.
- Wrike: It is a real-time work management tool for business analysis purposes. It helps lower the overall cost of project analysis by storing information centrally.
What is the difference between business analysis, business intelligence, and data analysis?
The main difference between business intelligence and business analytics is the questions they answer.
Business intelligence focuses on descriptive analysis.
BI prioritizes descriptive analysis, which provides a summary of historical and current data to show what happened or what is currently happening. BI answers the “what” and “how” questions so you can replicate what works and change what does not.
Business analytics focuses on predictive analytics.
BAs, however, prioritize predictive analytics, which uses data mining, modeling, and machine learning to determine the likelihood of future outcomes. Business analysts answer the “why” question so you can make more informed predictions about what will happen. With BA, you can anticipate developments and make the changes necessary to succeed.
Business analysis or data analysis
The difference between business analytics and data analytics is a bit more subtle, and these terms are often used interchangeably in business, especially concerning business intelligence.
How much does an analyst earn?
Salaries for this position vary widely depending on the industry and the knowledge of the individual. The average annual salaries for the position of business analyst or business analyst are as follows:
Average annual salaries:
United States: USD 104,500.
United Kingdom: USD 64,700.
Germany: USD 63,400.
Spain: USD 47,350.
Italy: USD 34,700.
Denmark: USD 74,200.
Where to study?
If you want to start a career as a Business Analyst it is important to train with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. It is also possible to do this through online courses.
In addition to the basics of business analysis, you should be trained in data analysis and data visualization.
In the following pages, you can find a wide variety of courses to train you to become a business analyst.