Are you looking to develop your career in the field of business analysis? Or you’re a professional trying to fill up your skills gap to fetch more opportunities? The modern world presents a range of fascinating professions and business analysis is among them.
If there is a career one can consider in the modern era it is being a business analyst. Business analytics is an evolving field and almost every business across sectors requires a business analyst to grow, thrive, and meet customer demands. Like data analysts, business analysts leverage business data and resources to make more informed decisions and identify business areas that can be improved for efficiency.
Many businesses need business analysts, especially those that are good with insights and can make sense of it. Business analysts are tasked with analyzing the organization’s position in the marketplace, and resources and guiding its growth. They can also be called change agents.
Understanding data and leveraging insights to make better decisions is essential in this competitive world. Business analysts are professionals who are taught to value analytics, identify limitations and guide business decisions, implementation, and growth based on the resources available and the market situation. By leveraging business analysts, companies gain a competitive edge over their counterparts and are able to thrive.
Who is a Business Analyst?
A business analyst is a professional who studies and analyzes business data, processes, resources, and functions to optimize its potential and growth. Business analysts bridge the gap between data analysts and the business by utilizing the data and related information to evaluate processes, identify gaps and determine requirements or areas of improvement. Thanks to technology, business owners and stakeholders have revamped access to data and information and this allows them to harness the power of analytics. Almost every business process, strategy, and decision require data to render them fruitful. Using
data analysts and business analysts can help businesses make bold business moves, stay ahead of the competition, and thrive amidst market chaos.
Although a business analyst may work with a data analyst, business analysts are generally required to guide the management when it comes to decision making, introducing new technology, or implementing change. A business analyst will always have to know what’s going on in an organization and at other times collaborates with company clients.
For example, if a company must introduce new processes or policies, a business analyst must evaluate the success chances, the possible limitations, and how a business might gain from the changes. They must articulate ideas and prove whether they are functional or financially and technologically feasible.
A diversely experienced business analyst will always provide better insights regardless of the size and type of the business. It’s because he or she is more aware of the market dynamics in every sector and has previously used the knowledge to deal with or bring the required change. However, all this doesn’t come easy.
There is a range of soft skills and hard skills that any business analyst must possess to thrive career-wise. Among the soft skills, we have communication skills, critical thinking, analytical, interpersonal, and decision-making skills. Generally, business analysts must use all these soft skills to direct progress. Besides the soft skills, business analysts must also possess technical skills at the core, and among them are;
7 Hard Skills You Need to Master for a Business Analyst Career
Being a full-fledged business analyst requires a balance between soft skills and hard skills also termed technical abilities. With every passing year, there are new advances in data-driven technologies. Many companies are leveraging multiple technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to obtain or handle huge data and insights.
Nowadays companies also use more sophisticated modeling tools, besides Microsoft excel to fetch, centralize and manage data for better decision making. Since tasks are also more automated these days, accessing complex data and digesting it without technical skills may not be easy. A lack of hard skills can also cause inefficiency, time wastage, and incompetence. To gain a balance, here are the vital hard skills you need to possess.
- Statistical Analysis
Gone are the days when businesses had to invest a lot of time and money in making surveys in order to gain insights about their customers, potential markets, and stakeholders. Although still used in the modern era, there are more reliable ways of collecting data and dissecting it before any decision-making process. These include transactional tracking, online tracking, and social media monitoring among others.
The area of statistical analysis deals with collecting, analyzing, and presenting huge data to gain insights into future trends. There are several forms of statistical analysis and among them are descriptive, prescriptive, and inferential statistical analysis. Statistical analysis helps organizations to make sense of the available data. Statistical analysis isn’t coherent with data analysis but they both have a lot in common.
Modern businesses rely on statistical analysis and data analysis to organize data and predict future trends. Once a team is able to collect and understand the available data, it then must organize it before presenting it to the concerned. The process is known as data visualization. Data can be produced in the form of graphs or using other illustrations. Some intricate and novel statistical models are not provided by closed-source software which requires a business analyst to utilize programming languages to manipulate data.
It is very essential for a business analyst to learn how to access, extract, and present data because all business decisions must be taken depending on facts. Utilizing data depending on the goals of an organization can help improve business operations, ROI, and its bottom line.
2. Computer & Software Skills
Digital skills matter nowadays more than ever since technology has managed to conquer workplaces. Possessing a few software skills can work well for any aspiring professional, however, when it comes to business analysts, they must be thorough with a range of
software skills. These include Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Microsoft PowerPoint, SQL, and Google Analytics. Some business analysts might also require programming and database skills to leverage depending on the role or job.
Having a good command of these software skills helps in the collection and sorting of huge data. It is also easy to create graphs, write documents, and design visualizations to explain the findings. Computer skills on the other hand are also vital and will require one to know how to connect to networks, assemble a computer, or programming languages. These skills help a business analyst to stand out and stay agile.
It may be difficult to possess all these computer and software skills, but having a few of them is critical. In case you need to obtain or improve these skills, you can utilize the current resources at your work to upgrade. Or you can take an online course to learn any skill at an affordable rate. Platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and Youtube are becoming a go-to when it comes to learning new skills and you can leverage the same.
3. Tableau Skills
Having data without the skill or know-how of manipulating it is a waste of time. Business analysts must be able to understand and segment data at their disposal in order to make use of it. Today there is a range of tools used to collect and visualize data, but Tableau skills are more essential when dealing with huge data and when one wants to craft highly informative reports.
Tableau Desktop is one of the best data tools used by analysts across the globe. It is user-friendly and with it, one can access data from several sources and develop analytical content. It comes with a range of built-in features which makes it a perfect data and business intelligence tool.
It can help obtain data from different sources, analyze the relationship and then smartly present it. Tableau skills allow users to create reports by blending different datasets or gain insights in just a few seconds. Tableau skills help business analysts build a knowledge bank that helps in planning, forecasting, and implementing change. It also makes it possible to justify decisions based on data or make future references.
4. Database & SQL
SQL is the coding language of databases and enables business analysts to write SQL queries to extract and analyze data. Since Microsoft Excel has limitations, especially with huge data, data and business specialists use other programs like Amazon Redshift to handle databases beyond 1,048,576 rows and 16,385 columns.
Business analysts with SQL abilities can extract data from databases and develop visualizations to present to stakeholders. Besides SQL, Python and R languages are vital. They can help business analysts understand and make sense of data when extracted. In case you only know a single language here or have no idea of what they mean, you can sign up for a coding course because they are essential.
Having a good command of these languages can help save time, shift complex data, and also analyze it. On the other hand, database management skills are essential because they enable one to create and properly manage data backups.
Data and any other information accessed via the internet is liable to corruption, hacking, and bugs. As a business analyst who relies on data, it’s necessary to update software and manage every database professionally. In case the data is damaged or destroyed, backups will help you get back on track in no time.
5. Financial Literacy
Almost every business operation revolves around financial resources and budgets. Can we imagine a business world without debt, credit, and financial management? No. Although that’s completely a different zone, business analysts must be aware of the financial position of an organization.
A lack of financial literacy affects business analysts in many ways. They become incompetent in making sound decisions or mirror the company’s progress based on an organization’s financial status or resources. Business analysts are required to help the top management make decisions depending on the financial data available and studied.
They are also supposed to study strategies, business models, workflow, and technical systems to see whether they align with the decisions. Certain things like inflation and consumer habits must be assessed before implementing any decision. That is also applicable when a company must buy or sell assets and securities.
Financial literacy also helps in loan acquisition, debt management, and making investment decisions. Business analysts must stay up to date with analysis, latest trends, and insightful news to help their investors or clients make crucial decisions. For example, in case an organization wants to enter the crypto arena or NFTs, business analysts must assess the market situation, forecast, and provide reliable information before the top management makes such serious decisions.
6. Documentation & Reporting
Although it may seem like a minor aspect, business analysts must be able to document and report findings and in many cases make a justification. For example, why shouldn’t the company move ahead with the change process or an investment decision? A business analyst must explain why depending on the provided data and related situations as per the made SWOT analysis.
Documentation, reporting, problem-solving, and decision-making skills complement each other. There is no way a business analyst may be an established professional without these crucial skills. Detailed documentation skills create grounds for communicating data and decisions. Whether it’s written or verbal, reports must be concise with the best clarity.
On the other hand, reports must be examined to render them error-free; whether in terms of spelling or grammar mistakes. Some reports may be technical whereas others may be in layman’s terms. The technicality of a report will influence the skills required to analyze data and make reports as per the concerned audience.
7. Knowledge of Business Models
There is a range of business models today such as brick-and-mortar, direct sales, franchising, and hybrid models. A business model generally refers to the core strategy through which a business will make a profit. Business models are clear and precise
on what type of products and services a business will provide, the target market or customers, and expansion opportunities.
Business models also describe the start-up costs and financing options that a business is to take. In addition, they describe how a business intends to serve its target audience or how it will recruit talent. The work of business analysts is to study an organization’s business model and find means of handling decision-making problems.
Also, the knowledge of business models helps business analysts plan and bring about innovation or modification in a company’s business model. It also helps businesses become aware of the cost of funding a business until it starts producing profits or how to empower and drive company change and growth. Almost every profession today is associated with a range of skillsets that can bring about career success. Business analysts must be updated with business and market trends to initiate profitable changes and developments.
Want to become a business analyst or enhance your skills as one? There is a range of skills; both soft and technical skills that can pave the way for career success. We have managed to tackle several skills here and we hope they act as a guide for a successful career. Be up to date by trying to understand the evolution and trends in the business sphere to help you stay relevant in this competitive era.
