From the course: What Is Business Analysis?

What is business analysis?

From the course: What Is Business Analysis?

What is business analysis?

- According to International Institute of Business Analysis or IIBA, business analysis is defined as the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. That definition is a great start, but when I begin my classes by asking the question, what is business analysis, every time I receive a wide variety of responses. Some say it's a profession, some say it's a set of competencies, and others say it's the act of performing research. So which is it? Would it surprise you if I said that business analysis is actually all of these? It is. When we're talking about the profession of business analysis, we're referring to a vocation that consists of individuals who have experience helping organizations implement various forms of organizational change. Individuals who choose a profession in business analysis are called business analysts, but they can be called systems analysts or technical analyst, agile analyst, or a host of other job titles depending on their organization's preferences. While each of these job titles may introduce slight variations in job responsibilities, those who perform business analysis in this context consider themselves working in the business analysis profession, but not everyone who performs business analysis identifies as a business analyst or sees themselves working within the profession. Many individuals require strong business analysis skills and they may master a handful of business analysis tasks such as the ability to write proposals or business cases, but their job title requires the completion of tasks that are far outside the business analysis profession. This is where we will see people begin to define business analysis as a set of competencies, more so than a profession. Competencies such as facilitation, problem-solving, business and industry knowledge while critical skills to those who work within the business analysis profession are also skills we will see needed by a variety of roles outside the profession. And that brings us to our third way to think about business analysis, which is to view it as a research discipline. Those performing business research maybe analyzing the viability of a new business idea or whether a business should branch into a new geographic location. When performing business research, many techniques used by business analysts are useful to obtain information, analyze, and communicate research results. Next time business analysis is a part of your discussion in the work environment, assess whether the context of the conversation is about business analysis the profession, competencies, or performing business research.

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