A business analyst is someone who analyses a specific company or industry domain and records its economic structure, processes, technology, or systems, analyzing the business models or its logical integration with computer technologies. Business Analyst assists companies in optimizing organizational systems, products, processes, and applications through statistical research. In business, they analyze the market, customer behavior, competition, and global markets. They make use of information technology, computer science, economics, and other relevant fields to analyze and provide advice to management about how to improve the overall performance of a company. In other words, business analysts are people who understand the business of a company and what actions it needs to take to achieve its objectives.
As per a US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is expected to be a growth of business analysts in 2010 due to the continuing growth of companies and the need for these people as companies grow in size and scope. With the growth and development in business analytics, there are more business analysts available for organizations, which are expected to create value in the market, through analysis of business processes and information systems. These business analysts collect, process, store, retrieve, evaluate, and interpret information and data related to business processes. This information is used by business analysts for planning, organizing, and operating the company and its activities.
Analyzing business problems is a very difficult task and requires a lot of analytical skills and knowledge. Some of the common analytical skills that a good business analyst must possess include the ability to solve problems through analysis of systems; ability to design and construct models and techniques; the ability to analyze a large volume of data and information and to work effectively within a team environment; the ability to communicate and collaborate with others; ability to problem solve; and lastly, ability to analyze, visualize, evaluate, synthesize, and implement business plans and strategies. While these are some of the essential skills needed to be a successful business analyst, it is also very important to have good interpersonal skills because business analyst plays a critical role in a company’s success. The analyst is usually required to help the managers and other senior-level employees solve business problems.