Key Fundamentals To Successfully Pursuing A Career As A Business Analyst

If you landed on this page because you Googled something along the lines of “What it takes to become a business analyst,” then you've arrived at the site with all the information you need to know on what it's all about and how to become one. 

This article focuses on giving a few crucial pointers to those who would like to pursue a career as a business analyst. 

How Healthy Is the Business Analysis Industry?

Before starting out in pursuit of any career, you should start by analyzing the health of the industry you’d like to get into. As an aspiring business analyst, this first step should be something you’re very keen to do. 

Nonetheless, it’s important to note that when analyzing the health of the business analysis industry, it’s not exactly the industry itself one wants to analyze but the world of business as a whole. For one example, digital transformation trends are great things to pay attention to. The next thing to ask is “What effect will this have on someone working in the business analysis field?”  From what the data shows us, technology such as automation and machine learning aren’t having a drastic impact on those working as business analysts, as far as job security goes. But when it comes to learning how to incorporate new technologies and methods, these sort of things are crucial to a successful career in business analysis. 

Areas Of Study For Aspiring Business Analysts

Building a strong business analyst resume starts with being able to show prospective employers (or clients in some cases) that one has what it takes to drive their business forward. In this highly competitive industry, you want to stand out from the crowd. The digital revolution brought in a new era of modernized business practices and, thus, the modern business world as a whole is dependent on digital technology. Without it, business as we know it would come to a halt. 

Business analysts are those professionals responsible for enabling and managing change in business. They are also looked upon by business owners to offer solutions to problems they're having trouble solving. With that said, business analysts have to rely upon their knowledge of technological advances while considering business-related trends. As the digital space continues to evolve, those working as business analysts should be capable of adapting. 

Agility is at the forefront of those working as business analysts. Below are a few examples of how one can be adaptive. 

Master the Art of Agile 

Agile is defined as a specialized framework that can be applied to completing projects in increments while emphasizing collaboration, evaluation and flexibility. In business environments where the term disruption has become a common headline, business opportunities must be exploited quickly. Today's business analysts, similar to Agile practitioners, should possess the skills needed to be transformative players in the world of business, and facilitating engagement, communication and change.

What Does the Future Hold?

At present, business analysts place a lot of emphasis on a broad set of skills, one of the most important being domain knowledge and a diverse knowledge base that transcends beyond the scope of their industry. As for the future of those seeking employment as a business analyst, they should get used to "reskilling" and constantly educating themselves. 

According to a report entitled, The Future of Jobs Report 2018, reskilling will become one of the top issues for the workforce of the future. The report further points out that 54 percent of the world's working population will be forced to reskill or upskill themselves at some point. All of this reskilling and upskilling is centered around technology advancements. 

Some of the most notable technologies business analysts (who work in technical domains or on infrastructure projects) need to learn now include Cloud technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), basic computer programming, as well as how to use the various SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing) products.