Kazeem Razaq @R.kazeem/ 6:00 PM EDT. October 19, 2022.
Would you like an amazing career as a Business Analyst?
Do you want to work as a business analyst but you are unsure if you have the necessary knowledge and expertise to assess processes, establish needs, and offer data-driven recommendations?
Business analysts combine the greatest aspects of IT and business. Essentially, they work to assist businesses in improving their business operations, product offerings, strategies, and software. Their primary goal is to increase corporate productivity.
A business analyst's job is to analyze the market by looking at all of the brand's product lines and determining the overall profitability of the company. They also ensure that all the reporting and data requirements of the organization are met while monitoring and developing metrics for data quality. A business analyst needs to have excellent communication, technological, and analytical abilities, among other things.
The field of business analytics is expanding right now. Professional business analysts are increasingly in demand all around the world. To become a business analyst, you need to have a specific set of abilities. Having all the necessary abilities will allow you to start new businesses and advance as a professional business analyst.
This post will clearly explain all the qualities necessary to work in this in-demand industry.
Is Business Analyst a good career to chose?
In today's society, where data is everywhere, we live, work, and play. The information in large data sets is crucial for making accurate, data-driven business decisions. Companies need someone to gather, analyze, and use data sets in productive ways if they want to gain that extra competitive edge.
The business analyst does this task. The business analyst serves as a departmental liaison who gathers, maintains, and distributes pertinent data.
Businesses of all sizes, governmental institutions, and nonprofit organizations employ business analysts across a wide range of industries. Any industry can profit from business analyst knowledge, although management consulting companies and IT-related businesses account for the majority. Business analysts have many options at firms that focus on accounting, finance, investment banking, and market research.
Data is the currency used by the commercial sector to purchase success. Business analysts use data and internal departments to create wise, informed decisions that will increase revenue and strengthen the business. Today, any company that wants to flourish should either recruit a business analyst for an internal job or hire one as a consultant from a third party.
Table of contents
Why do business analysts exist?
By understanding business issues and offering solutions that will increase the firm's value to its stakeholders, a business analyst facilitates change inside the organization.
A business analyst's objective is rather straightforward.
They do research and analysis for companies or clients in order to address issues and enhance operations as a whole. This typically entails conducting in-depth research, obtaining data, conducting analysis, and then coming up with a solution that serves the objectives of the current project. You can learn how to achieve it by pursuing an online business analytics masters. Having a business analyst on staff helps organizations achieve their objectives more quickly and uncover solutions.
You should seriously consider a career in business if you've thought about doing so and possess the necessary talents. It goes without saying that some of the abilities needed are somewhat specialized, which is to be expected given the role's intense concentration on data. It helps to already have some of the main characteristics required in your skill set while applying for the role or considering applying for an online business analytics master's. If you're thinking about pursuing a career as a business analyst, keep reading to learn the 10 skills you'll need.
They are involved in every little detail of the company, from formulating the strategy to developing the enterprise architecture. Business analysts are involved in every stage of a project's life cycle.
A business analyst examines a company's business model and records its operational procedures.
Now that you know what a business analyst does, let's look at the top qualities that will make you a successful one.
Business analyst responsibilities
The word "business analyst" is self-explanatory and not too difficult to comprehend. Nevertheless, let's review their job profile in more detail by knowing their primary duties:
Examining an organization's commercial prospects and recording all relevant business procedures and operations
Evaluating the effectiveness of the business plan and determining how well the company integrates the most recent technologies
Determining and ranking the importance of technical and functional needs
Specifying business requirements and informing the appropriate stakeholders of those requirements
Investigating, examining, and evaluating the technical and functional needs in business
Identifying more effective approaches to promote personnel effectiveness and increase efficiency.
Use Excel and SQL to analyze large data sets
Using tables, charts, and other visuals along with graphics to visualize data
Providing furnishings and enhancing operational effectiveness to promote more seamless functioning
Creating financial models that can change based on the revenues of a business
Evaluating business strategy and prospective plans
Internal and external organization structure framing
Budget analysis that anticipates, forecasts, and predicts.
1. Effective communication skills
The greatest asset a business analyst can have is strong communication abilities. Without effective communication skills, they would be unable to command their peers and subordinates while distributing tasks and project their opinions in a forceful manner.
Business analysts should be extremely clear when communicating their plans to their peers and supervisors. They also need to be inquisitive enough to get the right answers from various stakeholders and ask perceptive inquiries. If a stakeholder, for instance, does not occupy a technical position, you should use simple, direct language when posing your inquiries.
2. Good listening skills
Being a good listener is essential to being a successful business analyst. Business analysts need to take in information while paying close attention to what others are saying. This trait improves a business analyst's capacity to thoroughly examine the data and define the business requirements.
The ability to actively listen also enables one to comprehend the context of what is being said, including its goal, its driving force, and the conditions of the situation at hand.
3. Recognizing the Overarching Business Goal
The first stage in a business analyst's life is understanding the business motive, which is a unique ability in and of itself. A business analyst needs to be able to understand the objectives and issues of an organization -- it is beneficial if the business analyst already has domain knowledge in the organization they are working for. This will assist them in completing the essential tasks. Business analysts typically seek to facilitate change with the goal of boosting sales, scaling up manufacturing, improving revenue streams, etc.
4. Critical and analytical thought
"Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think," goes the famous Thomas Alva Edison adage.
This demonstrates how under-appreciated thinking is, even how basic it may seem. One of the fundamental abilities of a business analyst is analytical and critical thinking.
A business analyst must clearly translate and analyze the client's requirements.
Business analysts concentrate on gathering and understanding the client's needs. Critical thinking aids them in evaluating a variety of choices before choosing the desired solution. They are able to prioritize business requirements thanks to critical thinking.
Even in situations when there are resource constraints and the conditions are less than ideal, a business analyst with a strong analytical bent can nonetheless accomplish the stated objectives.
5. Negotiation and cost-benefit evaluation
Naturally, bargaining is a critical skill that every business analyst needs to possess. Negotiation and cost-benefit analysis are next on our list of business analyst skills.
Business analysts bargain during each stage of a project. Negotiation skills are employed in the early stages of a project to determine what must be included in the project's vision. The negotiation abilities of business analysts are then used to establish which requests become requirements and their priority levels.
6. Decision-Making Qualities
A business analyst's choices can affect a company's operations both directly and indirectly. They should therefore consider all the factors before offering their choice. A business analyst analyses the issue and identifies potential business solutions before making a choice. They then put each alternative strategy to the test and decide based on their impressions of these strategies. Finally, they put the solution to the test. Additionally, business analysts make the final determination as to whether or not a specific technological design complies with the discussed business requirements.
7. Programming Languages
Practical programming skills is essential for business analysts to undertake faster and more accurate data analysis. Understanding R and Python is quite helpful. Writing effective codes can be used to resolve complex issues. R and Python have a number of libraries and packages for handling, manipulating, displaying, and analyzing data. Furthermore, proficiency with statistical programs like SAS and SPSS is advised. The aforementioned programming languages enable fine-grained analysis and visualization of large amounts of data. Additionally, business predictions can be made using business models.
8. Critical reasoning
Before assisting a team in making decisions to identify solutions, business analysts must examine a variety of options. As they identify the issue that needs to be resolved, business analysts must pay attention to stakeholder requests. However, they must also evaluate those demands and pose probing queries in order to identify and comprehend the real need. New business analysts must therefore possess critical thinking and thorough assessment abilities.
9. Understand SQL and databases
Knowledge of databases and SQL is the next competency every business analyst needs to possess. Business analysts most frequently use structured data in their work. They should be well-versed in relational databases like Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle DB, as well as NoSQL databases in order to store and process this large amount of data.
Each business analyst must have practical SQL experience. They can access, retrieve, manipulate, and analyze data with the use of this. They must create, delete, select, update, insert, and other data definition and data manipulation commands.
10. Presentation of Documents
Documentation and presentation are the final two abilities on the list for a business analyst. A business analyst should thoroughly, succinctly, and clearly describe the lessons learned and project results. When presenting their project findings and results to stakeholders and clients, they should do it with assurance. Business analysts can readily explain technological concepts to staff members who aren't technically minded with the aid of well-organized documentation. It is crucial to record project lessons because doing so will enable them to make wiser judgments in the future. Business analysts can employ the prior solutions later on, saving time and averting troubles, if similar challenges arise.
Bonus: Soft Skills
Business analysts typically have excellent business judgment along with a wide range of soft skills, including empathy, emotional intelligence, effective communication, wise decision-making, and teamwork.
Business analyst average salary in Canada 2022–2023
What is the average salary of a business analyst in Canada?
In Canada, a business analyst may earn an average pay of $78,046 annually, or $40.02 per hour. Most experienced workers earn up to $99,999 per year, while entry-level roles start at $66,445 annually.
Alberta $84,355
Ontario $82,869
Quebec $82,570
Manitoba $77,402
British Columbia $76,384
Saskatchewan $70,684
New Brunswick $69,095
Nova Scotia $67,178
6 Career Paths for Business Analysts in High Demand
Business Analyst manager
They oversee the training of new hires, establish best practices, and carry out organizational objectives. These managers also recruit and hire members of the business analyst team.
Data Business Analyst
To aid in business decision-making, these analysts use enormous data sets to find trends, build charts, and produce visual presentations.
Data Science Specialist
Data analyst scientists must evaluate and apply obtained data to derive meaning in order to produce insights that may be put to use, making this job path quite difficult. To be successful in this role, you must be conversant with statistics and machine learning.
Information Security Expert
Cybersecurity experts are in high demand since cybercrime is a popular topic. By analyzing security data and keeping an eye on IT networks and systems, information security analysts defend enterprises against hackers. You'll enjoy this job if you're interested in ethical hacking because it typically requires identifying and fixing system flaws.
IT Business Analyst
Working on numerous operating systems and projects is required for this function, along with the development of more important business process responsibilities. Those who enjoy working with numbers should consider this profession.
A strong combination of technical and soft skills is necessary for business analysts. They must be accomplished business people with the ability to multitask deftly and add value to businesses.
For their ongoing business needs, IT and e-commerce behemoths significantly rely on business analysts, and more businesses are starting to do the same. As a result, there is a growing need for certified business analysts.
BusyQA offers online courses in the IT sector to help prepare emerging IT professionals to land specialized careers with Canada's Top 100 companies. Our Business Analysis course is a professional development program that can help you meet and exceed the requirements for a Business Analyst position. Our program covers Business Analysis – Requirements Development and management, Project Scoping / Sizing & Estimation, Data Analysis, and Quality Analysis. The course focuses on equipping the student with a job-ready skill set so that they can deliver on the job. This program also offers Co-op as a BA Intern on live projects (not guaranteed). and estimationto start your career as a Business Analyst!