Punching Above Their Weight: The Value of Business Analysis in the Digital World

There is a case for roles other than business analysts being of greater importance in the digital age. Good technical architects that design an IT platform for growth and speed are worth their weight in gold. So are great UX designers to better engage customers. Subject matter experts from the business are also a must-have.

What is more important than the role or what title it has, is the business analyst skillset. Companies won't get very far in the digital world without the soft skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and stakeholder engagement. These capabilities, which BAs have crafted over time, are the most critical in the digital age.

IDC does not advocate that firms should go out and hire as many BAs as they can. That is impractical and certainly not justified for the majority of Canadian companies that are small and midsized businesses. That being said, executives should talk to their peers or professional bodies such as IIBA on how best to position business analysts in their organization. Business analysts are frequently bypassed in the rush to launch prototypes or new product features into the market. Organizations can fall into a trap of acting before listening to customers and asking 'what problems are we trying to solve'. It happens in agile as well, where the pace of activity becomes the objective instead of addressing challenges and creating value.

IDC's research on digital found that the majority of companies, which already spend millions on AI, will increase their investments in analytics by 20% over the next two years. If AI was any other strategic initiative, an acquisition or expansion, companies would approach it in a structured and planned out manner. Companies, of course, intend to be disciplined and focused but don't always do a good job, particularly when there is uncertainty and a high degree of change. These problems may not appear top of mind yet. We are still early in the data and analytics age. Agile is just emerging from its base of IT and is by no means widely used across the enterprise. How companies approach digital will make or break the future of many businesses. The gap between aspiration and reality will only widen over time.

There are missing pieces that organizations need to get it right. It goes almost without saying that digitally-driven transformation initiatives will fail more often than not without leadership commitment. Leadership drives the culture, purpose, and collaboration that underpins the movement to digital.

The second imperative is an appreciation and mutual respect between the business and those with a technology background who are coming at problems from a tech perspective. Furthermore, the business needs to know more about technology and be data literate.

The other side of the coin is those coming from IT, developers, data scientists, and operations, who need to know more about the business. Soft skills such as communication, curiosity, and collaboration should be emphasized. Let's call this a 'BA lens', which unites stakeholders and technology in identifying and solving business and customer problems. These steps will not guarantee success. Yet they can ensure expectations are understood, and objectives are aligned with the overall corporate strategy.

IDC found that the business analyst's lens brings a strategic point of view to digital. This is affirmed by IIBA's fall, 2021 research showing that organizations that use a dedicated BA to support or drive digital initiatives such as AI see far greater performance. In other words, business analysts punch above their weight.

The goal is to utilize the role and position it to succeed. This isn't a BA, product owner, or data scientist issue but a question of strategy and action.

For IDC’s take on the future of business analysis professionals, see Punching Above their weight, at https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=CA49258622&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY