How To Become A Business Analyst
Business analysts are gaining a lot of importance in current era of constantly changing dynamics of the market. It is one the most highly paid job now-a-days. But to become a business analyst, skill, knowledge and expertise are required.
In this article, we will cover who is a business analyst and how to become a business analyst.
Who Is A Business Analyst?
A business analyst is someone who works in a business and develops strategic plans. Business analysts must have in-depth knowledge of industry trends and businesses as a whole. They make and communicate plans to internal and external stakeholders.
Businesses uses data sets to dig out business and industry trends to stay competitive in the market. This information helps businesses in improving their products, services, hardware, software, systems, processes, and quality and to make important decisions.
Business analysts identify and analyze business problems and provide solutions to them. It helps businesses in enhancing their efficiency and effectiveness and providing stakeholders maximum value. They can identify issues in any part of the business virtually.
Business analysts help in improving current solutions and providing and testing new innovative solutions at the same time. They must understand the needs of stakeholders, suggests improvements keeping in mind the financial situations.
Business analysts utilizes data sets, analytics and other tools to assess and enhance current business processes, provide recommendations and solutions, find new opportunities to increase efficiency, effectiveness and add value based on researched data.
Business analysts are the agents of change and their primary role is to initiate change and improve the overall business. Changes and improvements can be implemented at any level of the organization.
How To Become A Business Analyst?
To become a business analyst, requires skills, and knowledge to be eligible for work for businesses. Different courses, certifications, degrees, and projects are the additional benefits to pave your path for a business analyst job.
1. Learn Fundamentals of Business Analysis
The first step in any career path is to become familiar with basic requirements and description of your desired job. It is the first thing to get to know your desired position basic requirements and the field as a whole.
Business analysts identify business needs, problems and strengths and turn them into growth opportunities. They solve different types and number of endless problems during their job.
That is why lists of jobs are so long that needs business analysis skill. Jobs like;
- System Analyst
- Test Analyst
- Project Analyst
- Subject Expert
- Process Analyst
- Project Manager
- Technical Analyst
- Business Analyst
- Management Consultant
- Business Consultant
- Product Manager
- Quality Assurance Engineer
- Data Scientist
- Requirement Engineers
Normal employees don’t have those skills and knowledge which business analysts do have. That is why they will work with business analysts who have those skills and knowledge.
You should have a clear understanding of what business analysts are required to do. It is likely that you can have an exposure of business analyst ideas through work experience. But, you are required to have a clear understanding of business analysis.
This requires a bit of background research on your end on how business analysts help businesses in different ways, like;
- Conducting market analysis for tapping any gap and opportunities
- Identifying business needs and problems
- Market research and development
- Analytical and critical thinking
- Negotiations
- Data-base modeling
- Decision making
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Business development
- Preparing and implementing strategies
- Training and development
- Supply chain
- Preparing reports
- Process management
- Product management
- Quality control and assurance
- Enhancing overall organizational efficiency and effectiveness
- Turning weaknesses into strengths
2. Polish Your Business Analysis Skills
Business analyst skills are residing in two fields, business administration and data analysis. Business administration is the middle point where business analysis and data analysis meet.
The skill set of business analyst is huge and they require both technical and soft skills of these two domains.
To have a technical based job, you are required to have different skill sets to land that job. For example,
Data Analysis
Collecting, evaluating, tracing and tracking performance standards will be the main role of business analysts.
Industry Expertise
There are different needs, problems and challenges according to industry. Business solutions also vary industry to industry. Industry knowledge, expertise and experience can provide edge when applying for jobs.
Business Requirements
The ability of identify and understand business needs and problems. Businesses need business analysts that have general and business-specific knowledge and expertise, and they know how to get things done.
Understanding of general and business-specific knowledge and expertise will help you in understanding business needs, what problems exist and how you can address them.
3. Take A Course
Hard data is the source of gaining insights for business analysts to define, analyze and resolve business problems. Business administration turns into business analysis when you start to analyze and study hard data.
Skills of a business analyst will show on job and in interview that your knowledge and skills are up-to-date. Business analyst courses will help you in getting necessary tools that will pave your ways in business analytics.
Business analysts have a pin-point focus on improving business operations and efficiency. They look for what are the organizations goals and how they can help them to accomplish.
Business analyst needs to learn tools and techniques used in data analytics. For that purpose they can work with data analysts, or execute data analysis by themselves. You will be required to apply data analysis techniques in business.
You can learn different tools used in business analytics by courses in Tableau, Excel, and MySQL.
4. Get A Business Analyst Certification
Having a business analyst certification will help you in increasing your knowledge, skill set and expertise. They will also help you in gaining competitive advantage in the job, and might increase your income.
Some business analysis certifications are;
- IIBA Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA)
- IIBA Certification of Capability in Business Analysis (CCBA)
- IIBA Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)
- IIBA Business Data Analytics Certification (CBDA)
- PMI Professional in Business Analytics (PMI-PBA)
Different certification has different benefits. But, ECBA can show employers that you have invested your time in training and know the basics of business analysis.
While other certifications like CBAP, CCBA, CBDA, and PMI-PBA can show your experience and capability to the employers.
5. Earn A Degree
Many organizations set the minimum criteria of bachelors’ degree for business analyst job. But some prefer master’s degree holders for it.
Bachelor degree might be the logical first step for some people to gain exposure to business analysis. Bachelor degree is for entry level job positions in analytics.
Bachelors degrees in business administration, economics, finance, accounting, statistics, computer science, data science, information management, or programming.
Masters degrees holders are preferred by many organizations in relevant subjects. You can also consider a degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Masters Degree in Business Analytics can help in you improving your skills and knowledge in business analytics.
But with all this, to become a business analyst it is important to learn technical and soft skills.
6. Start Working On Projects To Enhance Your Skills
When you become clear on the concepts of business and you have enhanced your skills to analyze large data sets. It is time for you to practice and apply your skills, knowledge and expertise to actual business problems.
You can take on different practice projects through which you can analyze data and help grow businesses.
For example, begin with identifying the problem, identifying market opportunities, analyzing competitors, establish parameters of data collection, collecting data, and analyzing it. Similarly, as a business analyst, you will need technical as well as soft skills.
Your projects should contain;
- Business problem identification
- Different types of business solutions
- Different types of data,
- Texts,
- Graphics,
- Images,
- Audios,
- Videos that will help in statistical analysis
- Identify causes
- Give suggestions and recommendations
Business analysts are required to present and communicate their collected data to others. Data won’t be count much if you are unable to present and communicate it to others.
Business analysts have strong writing skills. As well as, they have skill to turn their data into friendly and interactive charts, graphs, and other creative visualizations.
Data visualization includes graphs, charts, and dashboards. You can create your own data visualizations by using programs like Tableau, PowerBI, Bokeh, Ploty, Infogram, or Excel. Through this you can let your work speak for itself.
Afterwards, present the data to your business internal stakeholders, executives, and co-workers and recommend solutions.
7. Apply For Business Analyst Jobs
There are number of jobs that come under the shade of business analyst, some are mentioned above. But, business analyst skills are required in each one.
If you are a fresher, internships and entry-level job positions, can help you in gaining experience before advancing to higher-level. You can search for job titles like junior or entry level business analyst.
Before applying you can do a bit of research about the job description, the company, its culture, and much more.
The Bottom Line
Career as a business analyst sounds interesting. But, it requires skills, knowledge and expertise which are learned and enhanced over time.
You can start looking for ways through which you can enhance your skills, knowledge and expertise. Different courses available in business analytics can provide you the introduction of this profession.
How To Become A Business Analyst FAQ
1. What qualifications do I need to be a business analyst?
Many organizations set the minimum criteria of bachelor degree for business analyst job. But some prefer master’s degree holders for it.
Bachelors’ degree in business administration, economics, finance, accounting, statistics, computer science, data science, information management, or programming.
Masters degrees holders are preferred by many organizations in relevant subjects. You can also consider a degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Masters Degree in Business Analytics can help in you improving your skills and knowledge in business analytics.
2. Is it hard to be a business analyst?
Becoming a business analyst can be a hard job than most of operational jobs, but it can be easier job than most of technical jobs. It depends upon the nature of work, the company, in which business analyst is working.
3. How do I become an analyst with no experience?
You can become a business analyst with no experience by following steps;
- Learn Fundamentals of Business Analysis
- Polish Your Business Analysis Skills
- Take A Course
- Get A Business Analyst Certification
- Earn A Degree
- Start Working On Projects To Enhance Your Skills
- Apply For Business Analyst Jobs
4. Is business analyst an IT job?
All business analysts don’t work in IT departments of the organizations. But if a business analyst is interested in data analysis and IT, they are given a role of IT business analyst. Within this job, they will identify and analyze problems and needs of IT department, and recommend and suggest solutions.
5. How long does it take to become a business analyst?
4 years
It takes a total of 4 years to become a business analyst.
6. What degree is best for business analyst?
A bachelor’s degree is usually for entry-level business analysts while, a master’s degree is given preference. Many organizations set the minimum criteria of a bachelor’s degree for business analyst job. But some prefer master’s degree holders for it.
