From the course: What Is Business Analysis?

Business analysis as a research discipline

From the course: What Is Business Analysis?

Business analysis as a research discipline

- Business decisions can be made from personal preferences or gut feel. But this approach is much like a game of chance, like throwing darts at a dartboard. Business analysis, on the other hand, provides a structured approach to decision-making. It provides a framework to guide analysis efforts, producing the information that enables informed decision-making. When business decision makers, regardless of industry, pursue any type of organizational change, research is necessary to understand the change. This means clearly determining the purpose or driving factor for the change, how best to address or solution the change, and lastly, how to measure our success, once the change is implemented. Take, for example, company A, whose management team has made a decision to offer a new service. Before running off and building the service, it's important to understand what exactly the company is looking to offer, and why. Will this new service be provided in all regions or only in the local market? Is this service intended to gain new customers or retain existing ones? How will success be measured? Sasha is a senior business analyst assigned to help company A bring this new service to market. She has just wrapped up her first meeting with the sponsor, who has asked her to begin work immediately so the new service is available before the end of the year. Being experienced in business analysis, Sasha ensures proper research and analysis before jumping in too quickly with the solution. She takes time to define the situation, clear objectives and to analyze possible approaches for addressing the business' need. She was told the business is looking to grow their customer base. She has to feel facilitate discussions to uncover what percentage of new customers the company is expecting. Is it better to obtain a 20% increase with a $650,000 solution? Or a 15% increase with a lower risk option for $500,000? Sasha explores different solution options. Should company A build a new service from scratch? Partner with another company to provide the service? Or use a combination of in-house and external resources? What are the pros and cons of each option? A third-party service provider might make sense to meet the aggressive timelines, but it's her job to consider what if company A is not able to form an agreement with the vendor contractually? What if they lose some control being dependent on an outside company? What if the provider can only meet 60% of company A's requirements? Sasha must apply business analysis to conduct research and analyze discovered information. With the results of her analysis, she will be able to formulate a more targeted solution. Think about a time you stepped back to analyze a problem. Consider how you went about organizing your thoughts. Perhaps you thought through different factors causing the problem. You probed for information to better understand the situation. Were you able to eventually analyze solutions? In performing these steps, you were unknowingly performing the research aspects of business analysis.

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