Many people perform a lot of tasks which are similar to what business analysts do, but they are not called business analysts.
Some of these people are interested in making a career change into the business analysis field but they don’t want to start from scratch.
So the most common question running through their minds are :
Am I a business analyst ?
A business analyst is anyone who describes and validates solutions that fulfill business needs .
An effective business analyst needs to know who to talk to, what to ask, how to ask, and how to document the information that they find in a way that makes sense to the development team and to the business.
Business analysis focuses on identifying business needs, problems, and opportunities, and identifying the best solutions which would fulfill them.
Business analysis is used in all parts of the organization including the strategic, tactical, and operational and the business analyst is involved in all faucets of an organization’s enterprise architecture, stakeholder needs, business process, software, and hardware.
Business analysis initiatives are usually focused on systems development, process improvement, organizational change, or a mix of the three.
So, what exactly does a the business analyst do ?
Here is a list of common business analyst’s job responsibilities and they :
- Liaises and communicates with stakeholders.
- Elicits, analyzes, and validates requirements for changes to business process, policies, and information systems.
- Understands the business problems and opportunities.
- Recommends solutions that would make the organization achieve its goals.
You may be performing these tasks in your job but you might not necessarily be called a business analyst.
Some of the common job titles of people performing business analysis tasks include business system analysts, requirements engineers, process analysts, product managers or owners, enterprise analysts, business architects, and management consultants.