Incorporating Generative AI tools in a Business Analyst’s daily routine

Author: Deepthi George

Generative AI tools undeniably provide numerous benefits to Business Analysts (BAs) in their daily tasks. At present, it is safe to assume that AI will not replace BAs, as significant development is still needed to reach that level.

I recently completed a course called “Generative AI for Business Analysts” by Vincent Mirabelli. It was an impressive introduction to utilizing AI in a BA's daily tasks. This opened my mind to many unexplored territories and provided the drive to incorporate Generative AI tools in my daily routine.

Although I am still exploring different Generative AI tools and their benefits, I have come across the following list of pros and cons. This list may keep growing as I continue to explore.

• Research and Analysis: Typically, a BA requires a lot of research and analysis on a topic to identify what needs to be conveyed to the team or stakeholders. This tedious task can be delegated to Generative AI with the right prompts and conversations.
• Curiosity and Exploration: BAs usually find themselves curious about various topics and need answers to many questions to understand them in depth. This is an area where Generative AI comes in handy as we can ask those hypothetical questions to the AI and gather information through a proper conversation. This would give us further insight into the topic and helps BAs to ask the right questions to the stakeholders when a requirement arises.
• Brainstorming and Market Research: A Generative AI tool can act like a brainstorming assistant for us BAs to perform market research and Competitor study as it can pull all available data from the internet. With proper prompts and discussions, a BA can derive a summary of the market research without having to do manual documentation.
• Proofreading and Formatting: Proofreading and sentence formatting are crucial for any kind of documentation. Generative AI tools like Grammarly, ChatGPT, Claude AI and Gemini can do proofreading for you in the blink of an eye. I recommend using Grammarly as it is more refined and provides options for you to accept all changes or to go through each amendment and decide whether or not to accept.
• Plagiarism Checks and Citations: Checking for Plagiarism and Citations are another tedious task during documentation. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini comes handy in such scenarios.
• Meeting Transcript Summary: A Generative AI tool can help BAs with automated meeting transcript summarization by copying and pasting the transcript from any meeting recording tool.
• Template Creation: Per my analysis, ChatGPT’s ‘Write for me’ GPT option is a good enabler for creating a sample template and can write a basic user story based on the details provided. We can refine the content further by continuing the discussion with ChatGPT and enhance the user story. To me, the user story was like the first draft written by a junior BA which in itself is a huge time-saver as we don’t need to start from scratch.
• Data Sensitivity: Per my understanding, Claude AI seems more reliable for personal or Customer data sensitivity as they do not use the data provided for analysis to train their models once you have removed it by using the ‘delete’ option. No other AI tool seems to have such explicit callouts.
• Data Analytics: Raw data handling and converting them into actionable insights is part of a BA’s job. Microsoft Copilot can be a big help for BAs if you understand the AI features available in Microsoft tools such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Using these features enhances productivity by automating tasks, providing intelligent suggestions, and by simplifying complex processes. It is available ‘in preview’ for Windows 10 if you have Microsoft 365 installed on the device.

1. From Picture [Path: Excel Workbook -> Data tab -> From Picture -> Picture from file]: This feature allows you to upload any picture from your device. Once the picture is uploaded, it will scan and analyze the data from the given picture and convert the data into excel format. When you click on the ‘insert data’ button, the data is made available in an editable format in your worksheet. This is a real time-saver for people who are tired of manually adding data from a picture to an excel workbook.
2. Analyze Data [Path: Excel Workbook? -> Home tab -> Analyze Data]: This feature automatically provides insights from the available data in multiple formats and more than 35 such results are made available with one click. You can click on the insert button for each of the templates given to add them into your worksheet. It also provides the option to ask questions similar to other AI tools to add your prompts and derive insights accordingly.
3. Designer [Path: PowerPoint deck -> Home tab -> Designer]: I am sure all of you have been using it for a while now without realizing it is an AI feature. This feature provides a variety of options to choose from for your slides. Once you choose an option, it learns your preferences and will tailors to that for the next slide onwards.
4. AI-Powered AutoCorrect and Suggestions in Word documents: These are some things you may have experienced already. Suggestions in Word not only correct spelling errors but also provide recommendations for enhancing sentence structure and coherence. ?
5. These features are available on Microsoft 365 web version as well.

• Task Automation: An aspect I have yet to try out is to use the Generative AI tool to automate repetitive tasks. If you can define your needs properly with the task and timing, then an AI should be able to perform such a task effectively.

• Chart and Graph Generation: Although it is mentioned everywhere that a Generative AI can help a BA by generating charts and graphs based on the data provided, I have yet to see such a file created by an AI tool. Per my experience, so far with the free versions, it cannot entirely create or generate a chart as you would expect to receive. At least not yet for free versions. But it will provide detailed information and steps to follow on how you can create the chart you asked for, which defeats the original ask in my view. ?For example, I have been trying to get Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to create a heatmap for the given data to analyze the Change Requests frequency for my project. So far, the AI has only been able to tell me the steps to create the heatmap myself, no matter how many times I rephrase the ask or how much further I take the communication on the topic. I am stubborn enough to keep trying until the AI gets tired and gives what I want or asks me to stop because training the model further and further is the way forward to enhance any AI tool.
• Data Analysis Limitations: Both ChatGPT and Claude AI can do data analysis based on the prompts and given data. But both have file size limitations and daily analysis limits in free versions, which makes the work unfinished. I also noticed that ChatGPT is more efficient in data analysis compared to Claude AI, as the latter seems to need a lot more improvement in this area.

For example, I provided both Claude AI and ChatGPT [Excel GPT option] the below prompt:

“Hi, can you please create a list which showcases the number of records per month based on the month and year in ascending order for the given data in the Excel file with the sheet name 'Change Tracker-for chart”

I had jumbled up the data by mixing the records for months and years to check efficiency. Although both were able to read the content from the mentioned sheet promptly, only ChatGPT was able to provide correct results with months and years listed in the right ascending order. Claude AI provided a somewhat aligned list, but the number of records was wrong for few months and the years were not listed right even after I provided multiple corrections.

• Human Judgment vs. AI Efficiency: While Generative AI excels in handling repetitive and data-driven insights analysis, human judgment and critical thinking remain irreplaceable. AI tools should complement human expertise, not replace it.
• Adaptability and Learning Curve: Generative AI tools require time to adapt and learn user preferences. This learning curve can be a challenge initially but becomes an asset over time.
• Cost vs. Benefit: Consider the cost of AI tools (especially premium versions) against the benefits they provide. AI is a key factor to be addressed in terms of time saving and enhanced productivity. However, benefits needs to be analyzed properly before deciding on investing as ROI [Return on Investment] will be based on investing in the right product for your organization’s needs.
• Collaboration and Communication: AI tools can definitely facilitate and encourage consistent documentation. However, they may not fully capture the nuances of human interactions and personal touch.

Creativity, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, decision-making and domain expertise are a few traits still safe with us humans as AI hasn’t cracked those yet! We should leverage that power while using AI's efficiency for tedious, repetitive work.

In conclusion, Generative AI can be a valuable tool for Business Analysts, enabling them to work more efficiently and achieve better results in various aspects of their role.