Skill set of a Business Analyst

You have heard the designation ‘Business Analyst’ sometime, and you have realized it is a worthy job to have.  The next question that must have popped in your head must be then what is the requirement to be a Business Analyst? To answer that question you need to know what a Business Analyst does on a typical day in an organization. That will enable you to learn the necessary skill set of a Business Analyst, which in turn will make you realize what the requirements to be a Business Analyst are.

A Business Analyst is basically a bridge between the development team consisting of programming engineers and coding engineers and the client of the company who is the end user of the project. So, a Business Analyst is the one who is the connecting link between the two important entities at the two ends of a project. He should be able to answer the queries regarding the project, to the software developers and be able to communicate well to understand the needs of the client, who is the end user.

Thus it is important for a Business Analyst to have Good Communication skills.

A business Analyst has to study the existing conditions prevalent at the client’s end before drafting the project specifications for the development team. He needs to be able to understand the existing IT infrastructure at the client’s end to be able to understand what needs to be changed. At the same time, he should be knowledgeable of the processes, rules, regulations, terminologies, workings of the sector in which the client’s business falls under. Thus, his spectrum of knowledge needs to be a good blend of both – the Information Technology and Engineering part of the systems and business know- how of sector for him to be able to carry out his job well.

Thus it is important for him to have a good bank of knowledge and a realization to update that knowledge form time to time.

While understanding the client needs and expectations from the project, the Business Analyst has to define the problem with clarity so that the software team can understand the requirements clearly. The Business Analyst has to be able to draw relevant analysis from quantitative data supplied by the client and other stakeholders; at times, he may have to source the data himself. Being able to judge and analyze the findings of the quantitative data and couple it with strategic thinking in order to envision a solution to the client’s problem requires good managerial and analytic skills.

In today’s world, where knowledge sharing is a way of working style, it is possible that the Business Analyst finds the need to use additional developers from a different geographical location and time zone, besides the ones he has working with him in his own geographical location. In that case, proper coordination and scheduling of tasks need to be done in order to complete the project efficiently, and faster.

In addition to the above skills, the Business Analyst must know how to brainstorm with the client and the development team to ideate and create long lasting and efficient solutions for the client.