One of the most positive things about the modern business world is that there are a lot more job opportunities available than in the past. The advent of new technologies means that there are completely new job roles that have never been seen before suddenly becoming available. This has ensured that modern workers have more choice in terms of how they spend their working life than ever before. One of the newest roles that has started to rise in prominence is the business analyst. They’re becoming much more important in the modern world, leading to job opportunities for this role also starting to become more common as well as the level of pay increasing. This makes it a positive part of the market to move into with great potential for advancement.
What do you need to become a business analyst?
There are a lot of different skills that are needed in order to become an effective business analyst. One of the most important skills that’s required is being able to handle data effectively. A helping hand for this would be to earn a qualification in dealing with statistics. Of course, a Master’s in Applied Statistics would be the best way to improve your skills to be one of the top business analysts on the job market. However, any statistics qualification will help to give you an edge when it comes to competing for jobs.
It’s not just the data aspect of the job that’s important though. Being aware of the business world is also highly important. So, knowing how foreign currency is behaving is a great example of keeping your finger on the pulse of the business world. This also transfers into another area of being a high-quality business analyst.
Having knowledge of how the business world works is something else that a quality business analyst needs. This is because a business analyst will often have to understand what is needed for a business to be successful. So, if they want to make positive suggestions for the business then understanding how the business operates is a vital skill to have.
The final vital skill is communication. Being able to communicate complex ideas in a simple manner is massively important in order to be a successful business analyst. If you can’t get what you want to say across, then it is easy for the wrong decision to be made. This will not only cost the business opportunities and money but will also impede your reputation as a good business analyst.
Of course, there are other skills that are required in order to be successful, but these are the most important ones.
What does a business analyst do?
To put it simply, a business analyst looks to improve the efficiency of a business. When carrying out their job, they will look at a number of different areas to determine how the business can be improved.
This will most often involve increasing synergy between different departments. By making sure that all the departments within the business are working towards the same goal, it will help reduce miscommunication and mistakes. This is vital for a company that wants to be efficient. It will also help to reduce costs as there will be fewer errors leading to additional work needing to be carried out.
Of course, the analyst part of the role is also highly important. As mentioned earlier, being comfortable with data and statistics is a vital skill. It’s this that will take up most of the job. Business analysts will examine the various data that’s associated with the company to determine where improvements can be made.
This can include anything from how the company operates within its profit margins to how IT can be used to improve productivity. Anything that can give the company an edge in the world of business will be examined. From there, the analyst will make recommendations that can hopefully improve the success of the company.
Of course, this will be in line with knowledge of the business world as well. An example of this would be a company that relies on just in time production to carry out its business. An analyst might recommend that it moves to ordering stock in bulk to cut down on costs. However, this might not be feasible for the company, as it would end up costing a lot more money in the long run. The analyst will have to be aware of how the business works so that recommendations that aren’t possible or will have a negative result aren’t suggested.
On top of this, being knowledgeable about business will make it much easier to achieve synergy between departments. If you don’t understand how the business works, then it’s not going to be possible to make sure that every aspect of the business is working towards the same goal.
The business analyst will also spend a lot of time trying to achieve marginal gains. This may sound counterproductive, but marginal gains are where the real improvements lie. It’s much easier to make lots of marginal gains than to make one big gain. So, if each department can achieve three or four marginal gains over the course of a year, this will equate to a significant gain by the end of the year. Business analysts must look into the underlying data of the company in order to understand where these gains can be made and how to go about achieving them.
Is it a worthwhile career?
The role of the business analyst is becoming more and more important as years go by. There are now more business analyst jobs appearing from month to month around the world. The role also has a starting salary that’s well above the median. This means that this is definitely a career to consider. It provides relative stability and a good level of pay. All of this put together will allow workers to move forwards towards a higher wage in the future.
