It’s Good to be a Business Analyst
By JB on May 15, 2007 in Business Analysis | Print
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The Business Analyst role is a good one - if you’re interested in climbing the rungs of the organizational ladder. At least that’s the tack that Barbara over at the Business Analyst Blog has taken:
In the next few years I think we are going to see more and more Business Analysts move into executive level positions in both business and IT organizations. Many individuals holding these positions currently have strong business analysis backgrounds (whether or not they ever had that job title). The progression of a Business Analyst into executive management is very logical and smart from a CEO’s perspective. BAs understand the core business and understand how to solve business problems. We are very good at looking at business areas from a strategic perspective and recommending forward thinking solutions. Because we understand what technology can do, we can see possibilities for future growth in our organizations and can see a path to get there.
I agree that Business Analyst is logically a good growth position. Analysts often find themselves working with senior-level stakeholders which doesn’t hurt for visibility - for better or for worse. BA’s often get a unique, cross divisional/departmental view of how the business works, and how technology ties in to the core business.
In addition to the technical and business aptitudes, Business Analysts are well-positioned for growth within an organization due to the fact that their calling card is the ability to communicate effectively and establish relationships of trust.
Time will tell if this is true in my case, but here’s hoping.
What are your thoughts on whether the Business Analyst role is a good preparatory role for executive leadership? Does a BA have any advantages over other business roles? Technology roles?
6 Comment(s)
By Michael Schaffner
on May 31, 2007 | Reply
Jonathon,
I think the BA is an excellent growth position whether you want to stay in IT or more into a line position. One of the gread advantages of IT is that it gets to see all sides of the business. The BA has the added advantage of seeing it from both the technical side and the business side which is great experience. My personal experience in IT is that more companies want CIOs with more than just technical expertise. The want someone with actual business experience that knows how to best utilize the technology. I’ve seen this slowly changing over the past few years and I’d say at this point more companies than not want something more than just a technician in the top IT spot.
Mike
By JB
on Jun 11, 2007 | Reply
Nice to see you again, Mike.
I agree. The BA role provides a great opportunity to gain a well-rounded view of the technical and business aspects of a company, which are certainly desirable qualities in a CIO.
By Eric
on Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title Jonathan Babcock. Thanks for informative article
By Alberto
on May 5, 2008 | Reply
Hi, this is my second position as a Systems Analyst and looks like I am heading in to the BA direction. It is very interesting how things tide together in a business with Technology as a base for process automation and how process owners and technology experts feel comfortable with someone in the middle talking the same language.
By JB
on May 8, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for stopping by, Alberto, and good for you for getting into business analysis. Hope you’ll find some information here that will be useful to you.
By The Leprachaun
on Jun 1, 2008 | Reply
My attitude is a bit different to the way a BA is portrayed here.
I absolutly agree with the value a BA brings - but the role itself is for everyone - I have a video on this on http://www.processmaster.com
I see too many organisations use BA’s as mere process modelers - and using inexpierenced business people for that. A BA is a facilitator, a mentor, a collator of existing, new and emerging processes, - and ultimatly an advisor to process owners.
We enable every single employee to be a junior business analyst, and they are bonused and rewarded for their BPI initiatives.
A BA who does other peoples maps for them, and has an ambition of the bes in best practice libraries is poorly employed.
A BA who governs the way business users build, use and publish maps - and then acts as the conduit for the automation of processes is a strategic asset to the company.