thumb|436x436px|Business analyst word cloud indicating some aspects of the business analyst profession (Flickr)

A business analyst (BA) is a person who processes, interprets and documents business processes, products, services and software through analysis of data. The role of a business analyst is to ensure business efficiency increases through their knowledge of both IT and business function.

Some tasks of a business analyst include creating detailed business analysis, budgeting and forecasting, business strategizing, planning and monitoring, variance analysis, pricing, reporting and defining business requirements for stakeholders. The business analyst role is applicable to four key areas/levels of business functions – operational, project, enterprise and competitive focuses. Each of these areas of business analysis have a significant impact on business performance, and assist in enhancing profitability and efficiency in all stages of the business process, and across all business functions. This can then be used to improve business performance through identifying areas for potential growth, cost reduction, understanding customer behavior, and observing economic trends and forecasts, and then reacting appropriately. Business analysis practices have the opportunity to use business data in a positive way, which can lead to the transition of a sustainable world.

Areas of business analysis

Business focuses

Due to wide range of applications of business analysts, there are specific areas in which they can function. Kathleen B. Haas describes the requirement of business analysts in four areas of business – operations focus, project focus, enterprise focus, and competitive focus. Business analysts add value to the operational level of a business by enabling efficiency to be maximized through cost cuts, investing in better equipment, improving employee efficiency, and increasing production of popular products.

  1. Project focus – when a business analyst takes charge of a project, areas that are historically overlooked are more likely to be considered carefully. for all areas of a business. One of the main functions of business which this is relevant in is marketing. By observing consumer behavior when interacting with a business's products and the products of its competitors, as well as the distinctiveness of brands in the consumer space, information about substitutability and product performance can be determined.
  2. Requirements elicitation - this refers to "analyzing and gathering the needs of both computer-based systems as well as the business".
  3. Solution designer - business analysts can contribute to the design of business functions and processes through the analysis of past performance and certain areas for improvement.
  4. Business modelling - forecasting, modelling and analyzing current and future business performance, functions and processes are essential to the business analyst role. These skills enable the business analyst to make educated business decisions.

Qualifications

There are a number of qualifications that can lead to a career as a business analyst.

  • Completing a bachelor's degree - this could be in information technology, business administration or economics.
  • Completing a master's degree - master's degrees "help add more skills and significantly increase your salary". Considering all these factors into their tasks reduces the risk of inaccurate conclusions being drawn.

Management of analytical resources is necessary for business analysts to consider, as there are many ways in which a business can implement high initial costs in the process of analysis of data, and hence resources should be carefully managed so as to not lose business profits.