How to become a Business Analyst in 2022?

Business analysts are a crucial part of any organization as they are responsible for driving valuable business insights by using the business data and recommending changes for better outcomes. A BA helps in identifying issues in the organization, it includes IT processes, staff development, organizational structures, among others.?

The role of a business analyst is considered essential for bringing and implementing changes in the organization. For this very reason, the demand for business analysts is ever increasing with more and more organizations looking for certified business analysts.?

In this guide, we will take you through a straightforward, yet detailed guide on how you can become a BA and can start your career in this lucrative profession.?

Who is a Business analyst??

Businesses and organizations produce a huge amount of data, which is further used by business analysts to analyze patterns and trends in order to drive valuable insights for improving the overall process in the organization and making critical decisions.?

A business analyst is considered a change enabler in the organization as they help in identifying the business problems and implementing changes wherever necessary. A BA helps in offering business solutions to provide more value to the stakeholders.?

We can say that a BA bridges the gaps between the business teams and IT as they use analytics for evaluating the processes, determining the requirements, delivering data-driven solutions, and generating reports for executives and stakeholders.?

?Roles and responsibilities of a business analyst

There are several roles and responsibilities of a BA in an organization. So, before you understand how to become a BA, it is important for you to get an overview of what a Business analyst does in an organization. Here are some core roles and responsibilities of a BA.?

• A BA is responsible for coming up with valuable solutions for the organization by identifying the business objectives and problems.?
• They understand and gather the business requirements from various clients and stakeholders.?
• A BA has to frequently communicate with the development team in order to coordinate for creating a lucrative solution to a particular business problem.
• They have to provide constant feedback on the layout of a software application and are responsible for implementing the new design features as per the needs of the business.
• A BA is responsible for measuring the functional and non-functional requirements of a business.?
• A BA conducts meetings with clients and stakeholders to discuss business problems and possible solutions for the same.
• A BA has to validate the status of a project through a user acceptance testing process. It ensures that the business solutions are aligned with the requirements of the clients.?
• Last, but not least, a business analyst documents all the project findings for future reference.?

5 steps on how to become a business analyst

You can become a business analyst by gaining the necessary skills required by a BA and getting certified in the field, among other few qualifications. Here are 5 steps that you can follow to become a BA.

1. Learn Business Analysis Fundamentals?

The first and the foremost step towards beginning your career journey as a business analyst is to get familiar with what business analysis is all about and what are the business analysis concepts and fundamentals that you need to comprehend before you take any other step.?

Therefore, the first step is to go through the business analysis methodologies, techniques, and concepts to get a better idea of your future roles and responsibilities around various domains.?

You can watch this video to learn more about the types of business analysis techniques.?

1. Acquire the Necessary Skill Set?

Now, the next step is to sharpen and acquire the necessary skills to become a business analyst. We are going to talk about the skills of a business analyst in detail in the next section. But the core skills that you need to acquire for becoming a business analyst are your communication skills, a strong understanding of accounting, finance, and business principles, data analysis skills, time-management, decision making, among other crucial skills.?

2. Consider a degree

Acquiring a basic bachelor’s degree or considering doing a master's can help you build the essential skills that are going to help you in your business analyst career journey. Moreover, many employers prefer candidates with a master’s degree. Here is what you need to know about a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.??

• Bachelor’s degrees: You can acquire a bachelor’s degree in a quantitative field as it can help prepare you for business analysis roles and jobs. You can opt for a bachelor’s in economics, finance, computer science, data science, statistics, information management, or any other related field.?
• Master’s degrees: Getting a master’s or doing an MBA program can help you get a competitive edge in the market as many employers want to hire candidates with an MBA or master's. You can opt for a master's in business analytics or specialization in business analytics or business administration can help you strengthen your business analysis skills and knowledge.??

3. Opt for BA course and Earn a business analyst certification?

Now, to enjoy good job opportunities, getting certified in the business analysis domain is your best bet. There are several certifications in business analysis that you can opt for to excel in boosting your business analyst journey. A few certifications that you can consider are as follows:?

• Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA): ECBA is a certification offered by the IIBA institute for professionals who wish to enter the business analysis domain. The only eligibility requirement for the ECBA certification is to earn 21 Professional development units (PDUs) within the last 4 years.?
• Certification of Capability in Business Analysis (CCBA): It is for BA practitioners who already have some 2-3 years of business analysis experience.?
• Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP): CBAP is an advanced business analysis certification for professionals with 5+ of business analysis experience.?

Techcanvass is your go-to place when it comes to enrolling yourself in a business analysis training course. You can opt for our ECBA, CCBA, or CBAP certification training course to earn 21 hrs, 21 hrs and 35 hrs PDUs respectively, along with the complete guidance and training of business analysis concepts, terminologies, methodologies, and techniques. Our ECBA certification training course can be your first stepping stone towards your business analysis journey.?

4. Apply to Relevant BA jobs to gain experience?

After gaining your certifications in BA and earning the necessary skill set, you can start applying to business analyst entry-level jobs to gain practice work experience of working on various projects. A few roles that you might get into are as follows:

• Data analyst?
• Quantitative analyst
• Research analyst?
• Systems analyst?
• Functional analyst?
• IT Project coordinator?
• Project manager
• Chief information officer
• Management consultant?

Skills of a business analyst

To successfully perform the various roles and responsibilities of a business analyst, you must possess the necessary technical and non-technical skill set. We are listing down the core skills of a business analyst.

1. Communication skills?

It is important for a business analyst to possess good communication and presentation skills to efficiently interact with clients and stakeholders. Proper communication ensures smooth operations in an organization. Therefore, it is important for you to possess good verbal, written, and listening skills to successfully carry out your duties.

2. Analytical and problem-solving skills?

Analytical and problem-solving skills are again the core skills that a business analyst possesses. As a BA, you must have the ability to analyze data and identify business problems and further come up with lucrative solutions for business problems.?

3. Data visualization?

A business analyst must have the knowledge to work with various data visualization tools such as Tableau, PowerBI, or others to present the data in an understandable manner. Further, it helps in creating reports, dashboards, and making crucial business decisions.??

4. Business Acumen

Good understanding of finance, accounting, and core business principles to better understand business problems.?

5. Industry Knowledge

Gaining industry’s business and functional knowledge through different means to analyze business needs better & devise the most suited options.

6. Negotiation skills

Having negotiation skills will help the BA achieve profitable results while keeping the clients happy.?

7. Requirements Analysis and Modelling

Learning tools & techniques for elicitation, requirements specifications, visual modelling, and collaboration.

8. Core IT methodologies (IT BA)

Understand the various core software development methodologies like Agile, Waterfall, DevOps et al. to adapt business analysis activities within the specific methodology.

9. Skills for Hybrid roles (BA cum Tester)

Understanding the fundamentals of software testing considering business analysts has a big role to play in system testing and user acceptance testing to validate the solution.

10. Programming

A business analyst must also possess knowledge of programming languages such as R and Python. It helps a BA in solving business problems.?

Salary structure and career growth of a business analyst

Being a business analyst is a lucrative career option, you can enjoy competitive salary perks that keep on increasing as you gain more experience in the industry. Here is a salary structure that you can expect after becoming a business analyst.?

• According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a business analyst in the US is $68,346 and the average salary of a BA in India is 7 Lakh (INR).
• According to Payscale the average salary of a BA in the US is $70,441 and the average salary of a BA in India is Rs 611,600 (INR)

As mentioned before, this is just an average salary range of a business analyst and it keeps on increasing as you gain more experience in the field.?

Conclusion

So, now you must have an idea about what a business analyst is all about, what are the expected roles and responsibilities, the expected salary structure, and lastly how you can become one by following the steps mentioned above. You can now take on the reins and pull up your socks to kickstart your business analyst journey.?

And to help you along the way, We can be your supporting partner offering business analysis certification training courses. We are an IIBA endorsed education provider, which is delivering excellence when it comes to training courses. You can opt for ECBA, CCBA, or CBAP certification training courses to delve deeper into the world of business analysis.?