Who Is a Business Analyst?

A business analyst enables a change in the organization by comprehending business problems and providing solutions that will maximize its value to its stakeholders.

They are involved in every tiny aspect of the business, beginning from laying out the strategy to creating enterprise architecture. Business analysts play a role in every life cycle within a project. A business analyst documents the business process in an organization and evaluates the business model.

With this understanding of who a business analyst is, let’s look at the top business analyst skills to help you become a successful one.

Top Business Analyst Skills

A business analyst must perform multiple duties; hence they need to have a strong skill set that is an amalgam of technical and non-technical skills.

Here, we will take you through the top ten vital business analyst skills that are a dire necessity.

1. Understanding the Business Objective

• A business analyst should be able to comprehend an organization’s goals and problems.
• It requires them to recognize business problems and come up with the most suited solution.
• It is good if business analysts have domain knowledge in the organization they are working in. This will help them with the required deliverables.
• In most cases, business analysts work towards enabling a change with the motive of increasing sales, scale-up production, improving revenue streams, etc.

Understanding the business motive is the first step in a business analyst’s life; it is a special skill by itself. Now, let’s proceed to the next set of business analyst skills.

2. Analytical and Critical Thinking

As the famous quote by Thomas Alva. Edison goes:

“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.”

This shows that, although thinking sounds basic, it is an underrated ability. Analytical and critical thinking is one of the core business analyst skills.

• A business analyst must analyze and translate the client’s requirements distinctly.
• Critical thinking helps a business analyst in assessing multiple options before arriving at the aspired solution.
• Business analysts focus on gathering and understanding the client’s needs. Critical thinking enables them to prioritize business requirements.
• A good analytical bend of mind will help a business analyst reach the stated goals even when there is a limitation in the resources and the conditions are nonideal.

3. Communication and Interpersonal Skills

The next skill in our list of business analyst skills are commonly heard of skills – communication and interpersonal skills.

• Being understood is as important as understanding. You should have the ability to communicate concisely with the stakeholders and clients with regard to the requirements.
• A business analyst uses communication and interpersonal skills at different phases, for example: when a project is being launched, while collecting requirements, when collaborating with stakeholders, while validating the final solution, and so on.
• Business Analysts use verbal and written communication to convey ideas, facts, and opinions to stakeholders.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills will give confidence to a business analyst while facilitating meetings.
  

  4. Negotiation and Cost-Benefit Analysis

  Needless to say, negotiation is a crucial skill every business analyst must-have. The next skill on our list of business analyst skills is the negotiation and cost-benefit analysis.

  • Business analysts negotiate at every project phase. At the initial stage of a project, negotiation skills are used to decide what they must include in the project’s vision.
  • Business analysts then use their negotiation skills to determine which requests turn into requirements and their priority levels.
  • As the project progresses, negotiation skills play a significant role in deciding the functional design that fulfills the requirements. Negotiation skills are also used to make technical decisions.
  • Business analysts carry out a cost-benefit analysis to assess the costs and benefits expected in a project. When organizations undertake new projects, business analysts make use of cost-benefit analysis to establish if they should embark on those particular projects.

  5. Decision-Making Skills

  At number five, we have another non-technical skill, and that is decision-making skills.

  • The decisions made by a business analyst has a direct and indirect impact on the company’s business. Hence, they should think of all the aspects before presenting their decision.
  • Before making a decision, a business analyst interprets the problem and finds alternative business approaches.
  • They then test all the alternative approaches and make a decision based on their thoughts regarding these approaches. They finally test and implement the solution.
  • Business analysts also take the last call in ensuring that a particular technical design conforms to the discussed business requirements or not.

  We will now take you through a few technical skills in our list of business analyst skills.

  6. Programming Languages

  • Business analysts should have hands-on programming knowledge in order to perform quicker and better data analysis. 
  • Knowledge of R and Python is extremely beneficial. Complex problems can be solved by writing efficient codes.
  • R and Python comprise several libraries and packages for data wrangling, data manipulation, data visualization, and analytics. Additionally, a sound understanding of statistical software like SAS and SPSS is recommended.
  • With the help of the above programming languages, massive data can be analyzed and visualized finely. Also, business models can be created for making business predictions.

  7. Creation of Reports and Dashboards

  The next vital skill we have is the creation of reports and dashboards.

  • Business analysts must be proficient in using various business intelligence tools for creating reports and dashboards.
  • Business analysts develop general reports and dashboard reports to solve decision-making problems.
  • Sound knowledge of Tableau, QlikView, and Power BI is necessary to make different reports based on the business requirements.