Business Analyst Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a business analyst. Feel free to use our business analyst job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a business analyst.
Who is a Business Analyst?
A Business Analyst is a change agent. Business analysis is a method for initiating and managing change in for-profit, government, and non-profit companies.
Business analysis is used to discover and communicate the need for change in how organizations operate, as well as to help organizations make that change. As business analysts, our job is to find and define the solutions that will help a company offer the most value to its stakeholders. Business analysts work at all levels of an organization, and their responsibilities range from defining a strategy to creating enterprise architecture to taking a leadership role in defining a program and Supporting continual development in the organization’s technology and procedures, as well as meeting project goals and needs
A business analyst is someone who uses insights and data analysis to help companies assess their processes, products, services, and systems in order to enhance present operations and make lucrative decisions. By evaluating the business model and its interaction with technology, a business analyst also assists organizations in documenting business processes.
In contemporary corporate situations, business analysts have emerged as a major player. Some people believe that a Business Analyst’s job is to make money for the company, however, this isn’t always accurate. However, Business Analysts’ actions and decisions indirectly affect the organization’s financial prospects.
Business Analyst Job Description
Below are the business analyst job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a business analyst job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
- Identifying areas of improvement, evaluating business procedures, designing and implementing solutions, and anticipating requirements are their tasks.
- Proposing optimization plans and organizing continuing business process audits
- Maintaining current knowledge of the most recent process and IT innovations in order to automate and modernize systems.
- Holding meetings and seminars to share information and ideas.
- Conducting a needs assessment.
- Recording documents and communicating the results of your work effectively.
- Communicating your ideas and strategies to members of your cross-functional team and management.
- Preparing relevant reports, and obtaining crucial information from meetings with a variety of stakeholders.
- Developing plans for business projects, managing the project, and performance monitoring.
- Keeping procedures up to date, putting them in place, and keeping them up to date.
- Prioritizing initiatives in accordance with corporate requirements and needs.
- Assisting stakeholders and users by effectively communicating with them.
- Managing resources and priorities that are in competition with one another.
- Keeping track of deliverables and making sure projects are finished on time.
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree in business or a similar subject, or a master’s degree in business administration.
- Experience in business analysis or a similar discipline of at least 5 years is required.
- Analytical and intellectual thinking abilities are second to none.
- The ability to persuade stakeholders and collaborate with them to find answers that are acceptable.
- Technical expertise required.
- Documentation skills are exceptional.
- Analytical and conceptual reasoning skills are essential.
- Detailed report writing and presentation skills are required.
- Microsoft Office software, such as Word, Excel, and Outlook, are required.
- A track record of delivering on promises.
- Excellent time management, planning, and organizing skills.
- Leading and creating high-performing teams is a must.
- A track record of leading and assisting in the completion of successful initiatives.
Essential Skills
Ability to Comprehend Delegated Goals
The ability to interpret is an extension of the previous talent. The management or technical staff’s requirements must be understood holistically as well as individually. When information is provided, there are often several gaps that the analyst must understand and fill in. If you have any questions about the objectives, don’t be afraid to ask again. Overall, one of the most important business analyst skills is the capacity to understand rapidly.
Capacity to Listen attentively
One of the most important characteristics of a skilled business analyst is the ability to listen. An excellent business analyst is one who pays attention to details and absorbs them. This assists the analyst in properly analyzing the data so that the requirements may be specified.
It’s also crucial that the listener knows not just what’s being said, but also the context in which it’s being expressed, such as the goal, the major motivation, and the conditions. In order to fully comprehend the message, the business analyst should pay close attention to the speaker’s voice, tone, and body language.
Time Management
This is one of the most significant abilities required by business analysts. Because a business analyst’s work calendar is jam-packed with responsibilities, they must ensure that they meet their promises to each of them. Understanding the priorities and then scheduling the day-to-day responsibilities as needed is the most basic stage in time management for business analysts.
Multitasking is an important subskill in time management since it helps you to perform multiple things at once, freeing up time for other responsibilities. It’s not only about work demands, though; it’s also about striking a work-life balance.
Ability to Lead Stakeholder Meetings
Until today, using email to connect with a customer in an effective and professional manner was normal practice. It isn’t always the most successful method, though. As a result, having a face-to-face conversation with a client can be quite beneficial and potentially expedite the resolution of issues. One of the most critical talents for business analysts is the ability to plan and lead meetings.
In fact, CEOs often have a greater understanding of a project or issue simply because employees are more open in their contact with the other side. If an audit trail is required, the business analyst can schedule a meeting with the customer by written confirmation.
Ability to Communicate Verbally
In any high-functioning work profile, communication is a necessary ability. However, because an analyst’s job entails data analysis, the findings must be transmitted to those in positions of higher authority. Communication is the most important of all the abilities that business analysts must possess.
It is necessary to be able to communicate the agenda in great detail. It’s also necessary to be able to ask intelligent questions so that stakeholders can provide the proper kind of information. If your stakeholder does not operate in a technical capacity, for example, you should ask queries in plain English.
Writing Reports and Documentation
This is an excellent illustration of the technical skills needed by business analysts. Writing reports, plans, paperwork, and many forms of analysis details are all part of the process. A business analyst’s job entails writing on a variety of subjects.
Understanding when technical terminology is required versus when simple accessible English is required is one of the most important aspects of drafting excellent reports. In a nutshell, this talent combines writing abilities with the capacity to comprehend communication criteria such as target readers and the message you’re trying to communicate. One of the most crucial talents for a business analyst is written communication.
Understanding Your Goals
One of the most important business analyst talents is understanding one’s objectives. Upper and middle management may not always explain clearly what has to be done. The majority of the time, though, they will merely provide a general summary of the requirements they require. This will only give you a glimmer of what you need to know. It’s up to the analyst to turn this jumble of concepts into a clear picture of what’s really required.
For example, if they mention having software that will streamline all business operations and optimize their work, the business analyst should be aware that they are referring to an ERP system. Here’s when a business analyst’s technical talents come into play.
How to Become a Business Analyst
- Get a bachelor’s degree in finance, business administration, or accounting.
You’ll need to learn some computer programming in addition to your business bachelor’s degree. Different levels of technical ability are required for different business analyst professions, but the more developed your programming skills are, the better you will appear as a candidate.
- Obtain Professional Experience
You can start by volunteering for a small business or taking advantage of summer internship possibilities. Offer to work on the types of projects that business analysts work on if you are currently employed by a company in another capacity.
Working as a business analyst requires a wide range of talents, thus there are numerous transferrable skills. Individuals can enter the area with experiences in a single business domain, such as workflow, billing, or customer relations, or with experiences in a broad industry, such as banking, telecommunications, or government. Once you’ve been employed as an entry-level business analyst, make sure you get as much experience as possible by working on a variety of projects. Once you’ve been employed as an entry-level business analyst, make sure to get as much experience as possible by working on a variety of projects; eventually, you’ll be able to specialize in the domain or industry you’re most interested in, and your experience may help you figure out what that industry is.
- Obtain a Master’s Degree in a relevant field or a Graduate Certificate.
Many colleges offer master’s degrees and graduate certificates in business analytics, with courses in business data analytics, operations research, project management, database analytics, and predictive analytics among the topics covered.
- Understand the basics of business analysis.
The first step in any career path is to learn everything there is to know about the job you want and the area as a whole. Business analysis’ primary concept is straightforward: it identifies a company’s needs and challenges and transforms them into growth possibilities. Of course, the types of problems that Business Analysts work to solve are nearly endless, which is one of the reasons why there are so many jobs that require business analysis skills: Systems Analyst, Process Analyst, Business Architect, Management Consultant, Requirements Engineer, Product Manager, Quality Assurance, and Data Scientist, to name a few. All of these professions necessitate business analysis abilities, and those who lack them will be paired with a Business Analyst.
- Create a portfolio of your work as a business analyst.
Once you’ve mastered these essential skills, show them off by posting the projects you’ve created and the code you’ve written (even as part of your coursework) on GitHub or another comparable online platform to demonstrate your abilities and start creating your professional portfolio.
An ambitious and well-executed project that you complete on your own can be a terrific opportunity to show off your skills, wow potential Hiring Managers, and make your portfolio stand out. Choose a facet of business analysis that interests you – perhaps a real-world problem you’ve encountered at your current job – and ask a question about it. Gather the information you’ll need to complete the task. Choose a facet of business analysis that interests you – perhaps a real-world problem you’ve encountered at your current job – and ask a question about it. Collect the information you’ll need to analyze the problem and try to solve it. Document your journey and offer your conclusions – attractively visualized – along with a comprehensive description of your process, showcasing your business analytical abilities and inventiveness. And if you can show how real-world results enhanced a company’s bottom line, that’s a component of the story you’ll want to use figures to convey.
Where to work
Banks
On a daily basis, banking business analysts examine a wide range of banking transactions. They look at cash flow and financial accounts, make summary reports, keep track of rate changes, create financial models, and write forecasting reports for financial projects.
Companies
Business analysts examine how a company functions, conducting research and analyzing data to further their understanding, and then recommending ways for the organization to enhance its procedures and processes. This is frequently done with the goal of assisting the organization in making more money, solving existing business difficulties, and/or achieving its objectives more effectively.
A business analyst’s employment is inextricably linked to the IT industry, and in some firms, business analysts are classified as technical employees that work in an IT department. Business analysts’ solutions for their clients nowadays frequently entail the introduction of new, or enhanced, computer systems, and the analyst’s responsibility may extend to familiarizing the rest of the company with the benefits of this new technology and training colleagues.
Health care institutions
The main objective of a healthcare business analyst is to assemble, analyze, and bring interpretation to healthcare data. The goal is to produce actionable discoveries that will improve the efficiency of healthcare facilities. They use their specific knowledge in data analysis, management, finance, and IT systems to gather data and gain insight into various aspects of a business, such as cutting operating expenses and improving operational operations in a cost-effective manner.
Health-care business analysts then utilize the data to suggest new processes and strategies for enhancing efficiency. Some of the recommendations that may be made include reorganization, billing method adjustments, supply cost reduction, and overtime wage control. On occasion, those in the role may be asked to report their findings and recommendations to senior management. Finally, health care business analysts’ insights enable physicians, hospital managers, and clinical staff to make informed decisions that benefit the bottom line without compromising patient care quality.
IT industries
Among other responsibilities, business analysts are responsible for improving the quality of IT goods and services, analyzing data to inform business decisions, and finding technology solutions to business demands.
Because they must act as a communication connection between the IT and executive branches, the greatest IT business analysts have exceptional interpersonal skills.
Salary Scale
A Business Analyst in Nigeria earns roughly 435,000 NGN per month on average. Salaries range from 209,000 NGN to 683,000 NGN (lowest to highest) (highest).
This is the monthly average pay, which includes housing, transportation, and other benefits. Salary for a business analyst varies greatly depending on experience, abilities, gender, and region.
According to payscale.com, business analysts may expect to earn an average salary of $61,669 per year in June 2021, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the median annual compensation for a comparable position of management analyst as $87,660, with the top 10% predicted to earn more than $150,000. For the first 5-10 years, business analysts should expect compensation rises, but more experience has little bearing on pay. The majority of business analysts work for only 1-4 years before moving on to more advanced professions. Project managers and senior business analysts are two examples of promotions.