What is A Business Analyst and its Roles and Responsibilities in a Company?

In the dynamic business world, Business Analysts bridge the gap between stakeholders and technology, decipher complex data, and drive strategic decision-making. With a keen eye for detail and a holistic understanding of organizational goals, they unravel the intricacies of processes, systems, and data to provide actionable insights and recommendations. Join us as we delve into business analyst roles, responsibilities, salaries and more!

This article was published as a part of the Data Science Blogathon

What is a Business Analyst?

A business analyst plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between business objectives and organizational technology solutions. They mediate between stakeholders, including business users, project managers, and IT teams, to understand and translate business needs into actionable requirements.

Furthermore, business analysts collaborate closely with IT teams to ensure the developed solutions align with business requirements. They participate in the entire project lifecycle, from initial scoping and requirements gathering to solution design, testing, and implementation.

What Does a Business Analyst Do?

A business analyst performs various tasks and responsibilities to support organizational goals and bridge the gap between business and technology. Here is a list outlining the key activities and roles of a business analyst:

1. Requirement Elicitation: Gathering, analyzing, and documenting business requirements by conducting interviews, workshops, and surveys with stakeholders.
2. Business Process Analysis: Examining existing business processes, identifying areas for improvement, and proposing solutions to enhance efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness.
3. Data Analysis: Analyzing and interpreting complex data sets to identify trends, patterns, and insights that can drive informed business decisions.
4. Solution Design: Collaborating with stakeholders and IT teams to design technology solutions that address business needs, ensuring alignment with requirements and feasibility.
5. Stakeholder Management: Building relationships and effectively communicating with stakeholders, including business users, project managers, developers, and executives, to understand their perspectives and manage expectations.
6. Change Management: Assisting in managing organizational change by identifying potential impacts, developing change management strategies, and facilitating smooth transitions during implementation.
7. Testing and Quality Assurance: Participating in testing activities to validate that the developed solution meets the specified requirements and quality standards.
8. Documentation and Communication: Creating comprehensive documentation, including business requirements, functional specifications, and user manuals, and communicating complex concepts effectively to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
9. Continuous Improvement: Proactively identifying opportunities for process improvement, system enhancements, and innovation to drive ongoing growth and operational excellence.
10. Project Management Support: Assisting project managers in defining project scope, planning and monitoring progress, and ensuring that deliverables align with business objectives.

Also Read: Business Analyst vs Data Analyst: Which Profile Should You Choose?

Business Analysis vs Business Analytics

What is the Business Analysis Process?

The role of a business analyst involves gathering requirements from stakeholders and defining process flows. They estimate project timelines and collaborate with the development team. After capturing requirements, the business analyst seeks input from both clients and the IT team to clarify project expectations. They break down the project into manageable steps and seek feedback from stakeholders at each stage. Checkout these steps for business analysis process:

Step 1: Understanding Business Objectives

First & Foremost before starting the project, the role of the business analysts is to understand the client’s business goals; hence the BA has to make sure to prepare a plan that is best suited for the client’s projects. Hence every business analyst has to understand what are the ongoing problems that the client is facing at the moment and how their solution can help the client mitigate the limitations they are typically facing in their industry.

Step 2: Gather Business Requirements

Once the BA has understood the business goals, objectives, and ongoing problems, they have to gather all the requirements as mentioned by the client & build business processes. Along with gathering the requirement, they also have to ensure that they have the right resources and platforms to get the work done. For example, if the client wants to set up a payment gateway in their application that accepts international payments and wants to add a feature of international shipping. The BA has to make sure the integrations of the shipping companies and payment gateways that accept international payments are seamless and actually achievable. It’s better to not set unrealistic expectations and ensure that the timeframe, the budget allocated, and the resources recruited for the particular project are proper.

Step 3: Allocating Resources for the projects

Once the Business Analyst has an in-depth understanding of the client’s project & has gathered all the important information needed to develop the project, they have to start allocating the work to a development team who can handle the project and help the client achieve their business goal. It is very crucial to identify the right team for the project as that will make and break the project’s end goals. For example, hiring the backend team to develop the features of the app in the front end will not be useful at all.

Step 4: Conducting Meetings With Stakeholders & Development team

Although this depends from project to project, normally, the business analyst has to conduct to and fro meetings with both the stakeholders and the development team as and when an update or a feature is added to the project. This helps in taking necessary feedbacks from the clients and solve the problems that the development team is facing while adding some features. The IT team first adds a feature and the role of the business analyst is to understand and explain the feature updates to the clients and take feedback to move further, based on the client feedback the BA instructs the IT team to make certain amendments and keep going. In certain scenarios, there are cases wherein the client request for an additional feature to be added to the project, and based on the feasibility the BA then has to allocate the changes in the existing project and allocate the resources accordingly if need be. Hence conducting regular meetings with the clients and the IT team to take feedback and implement changes, helps in reaching the end goal of the project very soon. This is one of the most crucial business analyst skills that a successful BA must possess.

Step 5: Collecting Feedback From Users & Clients

Once the prototype version of the business model is ready the business analyst roles require them to share the same with the clients and take their feedback, the BA also tests the interface by involving some customers and records their experience with the model built. Based on their feedback the BA plans some amendments that may make the model even better. They conduct user acceptance testing to verify if the prototype is in line with the requirements of the business project. A typical business analyst role also requires them to assess the functional and non-functional requirements of the business.

Step 6: Building Final Reports

Finally, after collecting feedback and taking the necessary actions certified business analysts may have to move to their most crucial role of building reports with the help of business analytical tools like Tableau, Power Bi, Jira, Lucid Charts to prepare data visualization reports & general reports. Data Visualization is a key role required for any analyst to succeed in their project as it helps in estimating the performance of the model built by the team. Based on the analysis and the performance forecasting of the software/model built by the team, the BA is able to put forward the metrics and details while presenting in the final meeting with the client about their achievements and the feedback they received from their users.

Step 7: Documentation & Presentation of the Final Project Outcome

On completion of the business project, the business analyst has to document the project details and share the findings of the project with the client. Generally, the business analysts have to prepare reports and present the project outcomes to the business stakeholders and clients for a better understanding. They are also required to note down all the project learnings and hardships they faced while building the project in a compact form. This step helps the BA take better business decisions in the future.

Finally, once all the decisions and meetings have been concluded the business analyst has to deliver the project to the client. The streamlined approach taken by the business analyst helps in achieving the required outcomes in lesser time. Apart from learning the necessary skillsets, the business analyst needs to have an analytical mindset and a great problem-solving capability to solve challenging problems in lesser time and in an efficient manner. It is important for the BA to have a clearer understanding with their team members as they have to build and complete an entire project and that’s only possible if the communication is proper and responsibilities are properly allocated to the group members for completing the project-based task.

Learn all the essential business analysis skills with our FREE course on Introduction to Business Analytics!

Why Choose Business Analysis Career?

Here are a few reasons to choose a career in Business Analysis: 

1. High Demand: Business analysts are in high demand across industries as organizations increasingly recognize the value of data-driven decision-making and process optimization.
2. Diverse Industry Options: Business analysts can work in various sectors, including finance, healthcare, technology, and consulting, allowing for versatile career paths and the opportunity to explore different domains.
3. Impactful Role: Business analysts drive organizational success by identifying and solving business challenges, optimizing processes, and improving efficiency and profitability.
4. Continuous Learning: The field of business analysis is dynamic, requiring professionals to stay updated with evolving technologies, industry trends, and best practices, providing ongoing learning opportunities.
5. Collaboration and Communication: Business analysts interact with diverse stakeholders, including executives, project managers, developers, and end-users, enhancing communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.
6. Problem-Solving: Business analysts excel at problem-solving, applying analytical thinking and data-driven approaches to identify root causes, propose solutions, and drive business outcomes.
7. Career Progression: A career in business analysis offers a clear career progression path, from junior analyst roles to senior management positions, providing opportunities for growth, increased responsibilities, and higher compensation.
8. Versatile Skill Set: Business analysts develop a versatile skill set encompassing data analysis, requirements elicitation, process modeling, communication, and project management, making them valuable assets in various roles.
9. Cross-functional Collaboration: Business analysts collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, fostering a deeper understanding of business functions and building strong professional networks.
10. Job Satisfaction: Making a tangible impact on organizations, solving complex problems, and contributing to successful projects can lead to high job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Business Analyst Salaries

Becoming a Business Analyst

Embarking on a career as a Business Analyst offers a promising path filled with opportunities for professional growth and impact. Aspiring business analysts can unlock a world of possibilities by acquiring the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience. Cultivating a continuous learning mindset, staying updated with industry trends, and actively participating in professional networks and communities will contribute to professional development. You can explore Analytics Vidhya courses to learn the right skills.

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Ananya Chakraborty

11 May 2023