COEPD – Center of Excellence for Professional Development Happy Learning
The role of a business analyst is gaining paramount importance in current times. They are one of the most highly paid professionals today. However, to become a business analyst, there are a few skills you would require. a business analyst enables change in an organization by understanding and analysing business problems and delivering solutions that will maximize its value to its stakeholders.
Business analysts bridge the gap between IT and business teams using analytics to evaluate processes, determine requirements, deliver data-driven solutions, and generate reports to executives and stakeholders. They work closely with the technology team to enhance the quality of the services being delivered. They also help in assisting in the integration and testing of new solutions.
Following are the skills required to become business analyst-
- As mentioned earlier, a graduation degree is mandatory.
- Knowledge and experience in writing SQL queries.
- Expert knowledge of programming languages.
- They need to have good communication and negotiation skills.
- Good at creating interactive reports using various business intelligence tools.
- Having a certification offered by the International Institute of Business Analysis(IIBA) such as Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) would be highly beneficial.
Listed below are the top skills you require to become a Business Analyst-
- Degree and Domain Knowledge
You should hold a degree in the relevant field. It is also useful if you carry sound domain knowledge along with relevant experience.
- Analytical Skills
Business analysts must possess analytical skills, along with logical and critical thinking. This helps in interpreting business needs and choosing the best solution for a challenging business problem.
- Microsoft Excel
Excel helps create several graphs and helps generate dynamic reports related to a business problem.
- Negotiation Skills
A business analyst must have excellent negotiation skills. As a business analyst, you must achieve a profitable result for your company while keeping the client happy.
- SQL
Knowledge of SQL and relational databases is required for a business analyst. This helps in accessing, retrieving, manipulating, and analysing data. Working knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL database, Oracle DB, and SQLite is crucial.
- Programming
Knowledge of programming languages, such as R and Python, is a prerequisite. Programming knowledge helps in solving complex problems and performing faster data analysis.
- Data Visualization
Business analysts must know to work on various data visualization tools like Tableau, QlikView, and Power BI. This will help them create reports and dashboards, forecast data, and make vital business decisions.
- Communication Skills
A business analyst should have good presentation and communication skills to interact with clients and stakeholders. To carry out documentation, they must also have superb writing skills.
Those were the skills required to become a business analyst. Now, let us walk you through a roadmap that depicts what steps a fresher needs to take to become a business analyst.
First, have a graduation degree in a related field.
Second, learn SQL and other relational databases.
Third, have good hands-on experience with programming languages.
Finally, be good at both written and verbal communication and practice to become good at presentations.
Responsibilities of a Business Analyst-
The job of a business analyst comes with several roles and responsibilities. Hence, before you understand how to become a business analyst, it is of utmost importance to clearly understand the duties carried out by a business analyst. Given below are some of the primary responsibilities of a business analyst:
A business analyst identifies an organization’s business objectives and problems and comes up with lucrative solutions.
They comprehend and collect business requirements from clients and stakeholders.
Business analysts interact with the development team in order to design a solution for solving a particular problem.
They proactively provide feedback on a software application’s layout and implement the newly designed features that a business needs.
Business Analysts gauge the functional and non-functional requirements in a business.
They conduct regular meetings with stakeholders and clients to discuss business issues and solutions.
Business analysts are responsible for validating the status of a project with the help of user acceptance testing. They ensure if the business solutions are in line with the clients’ requirements.
A business analyst documents and builds data visualizations to convey all the project findings.
