Business Analyst Job Description

Business Analysts (BAs) have become an integral part of every department in many organizations. They have created a set of different trends in the industry. But, their job role is not that clear to all. Let us explore how a typical business analyst job description looks like.

A job description typically is a document that explains the required job details, duties, responsibilities, and skills needed to perform a particular job. In this article, I will demystify a business analyst's job description and their roles and responsibilities.

The Role of the Business Analyst

A business analyst aims to find the best solutions for challenging problems that the company faces and convert them into opportunities. Post that, he/she then reports them to the stakeholders. It is their responsibility to build new models that support business decisions to improve business strategies.

Business analysts act as a liaison between the Business and the development team by finding ways to streamline the organization's entire business processes. In addition to that, they also communicate with different departments in an organization and recommend solutions to challenging problems. While the task a business analyst performs may not be the same in every organization, the typical responsibilities of a business analyst include:

• Identify problems within a business
• Design a proper framework for the system
• Analyze the structure of a businesses
• Evaluate the various departments based on the situation
• Find the method to improve the organization

Now that you are aware of a business analyst's roles let us look into skills the business analyst requires.

Qualifications Required to Be a Business Analyst

The basic requirement to qualify for entry-level positions in business analysis is to have a bachelor's degree. Undergraduate programs in either analytics, business functions, and statistics, or similar domains will help you develop essential skills in this domain. For higher-level positions, a master's or a doctorate degree is crucial. Well, on the other hand, you can get trained by professional bodies like the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) or the Chartered Institute for I.T. (BCS), either at the starting of your career or during your career path.

Business Analyst Requirements:

Business analysts can often come from different academic backgrounds, and listed below are both education and skill requirements that you will generally find in Business Analyst Job Descriptions:

• A bachelor's degree in Business or similar domain or an MBA
• A minimum of 5 years experience in business analysis or in a similar field
• High analytical and conceptual thinking skills
• The ability to interact with stakeholders and work closely with them to formulate acceptable solutions.
• Advanced technical skills
• Excellent documentation skills
• Fundamental analytical and conceptual thinking skills
• Experience creating detailed documents and giving presentations
• Knowing about Microsoft applications like Word, Excel, and Outlook
• Creating a track record of the on-going process daily
• Excellent planning, organizational, and time management skills
• Experience leading and developing top-performing team

Skills Required to Become a Business Analyst

To become a successful business analyst, you must be aware of all the core skills as it increases your ability to respond quickly to any situation. Business analysts must have a combination of hard and soft skills, which include:

1. Communication skills

As business analysts will be working with multiple teams and must receive, translate, negotiate data between parties, and communicate solutions easily. Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) are a must for a business analyst. They must be confident and have a leadership position to approve plans from superiors in the company.

2. Business knowledge

Knowing each corner of the company and understanding every department's functionality is a must for any business analyst. They must have a clear understanding of many facets of the company, like for whom they will be working and understanding of different individuals' roles. They must also have a clear perspective of the organization they are working for in the broader context. This business knowledge will then help analyze data points successfully and create strategic plans for the future.

3. Technical skills

Business analysts sometimes require some technical knowledge like programs for diagrams, data crunching, and wireframing. The present business analysts show a great interest in their technical proficiency with knowledge of computer programming, big data mining techniques, database management, and systems engineering. So, it is always a plus for a business analyst to possess technical insight.

Industries Hiring Business Analysts

As mentioned earlier, business analysts have become an integral part of every organization. Industries that are hiring business analysts on a huge scale include:

• Consulting and professional service firms 
• Public sector organizations
• Technology companies
• Research firms 

In addition to the good career stability, business analysts have the advantage of highly competitive salaries. The salary growth of a business analyst has been increasing enormously over the past two decades. According to Glassdoor.com, the average salary of a business analyst in the U.S. is $ 68,346 annually. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the business analyst jobs are predicted to increase by 19% between 2012 and 2022.

Sample Job Description

CISCO - Business Analyst Role

This is a job requirement posted by CISCO for the role of a business analyst.

For this position, your core responsibilities will include a combination of things like analysis, communication, technical expertise, innovations, identifying issues, and others. As for the qualifications, you need to have either a bachelor's degree or master's degree in relevant domains. In addition to that, you need to have excellent communication, time management, and collaboration skills, amongst other things.

Conclusion

The business analyst job role is continually evolving and changing rapidly. We can expect a great future for the present business analysts. The job description mentioned above helps you know the parameters that you must be ready to get hired as a business analyst in any organization. So, choose the right path and become a successful business analyst. So, are you ready to jumpstart your career as a business analyst? Get started today with Invensis Learning’ business analysis training courses