Unveiling the Strategic Value of Business Analysis

Welcome to this edition of our newsletter! In today's competitive business landscape, understanding and leveraging the value of business analysis is crucial for achieving strategic goals. This newsletter presents key articles that explore the intrinsic value of business analysis, the importance of involving business analysts early in projects, and strategies for developing robust in-house business analysis capabilities. We will now explore these insights to enhance your business strategy and operations.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and questions.

The value of business analysis to firms

Reason for article

To help create an understanding of how business analysts can be used and how they can contribute to ensuring a project is delivered successfully; to budget and time.

Research on why projects fail

Sources of Failure according to a survey by Gartner were identified as being due to poor communication between IT and the business and failure to think about the real needs of the business

In another recent study of approximately 600 businesses published by a software development firm (Geneca) the single biggest performance opportunity was a business centric approach to requirements.

Results that indicated this were:

• 80% of businesses in the study admitted to spending at least half of their time on rework
• 78% feel the business is usually or always out of sync with project requirements and business stakeholders need to be more involved and engaged in the requirements process.
• 55% feel that the business objectives of their projects are clear to them.
• Less than 20% describe the requirements process as the articulation of business need.
• Only 23% state they are always in agreement when a project is truly done.

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10 reasons for using Business Analysts at the early stages of a project or pre-project

There are many reasons why Business Analyst involvement doesn’t happen until much later on in a project.? Examples are:

• The business often feels they can sort out the early stages on their own.
• Not enough known about how a business analyst can help.
• There isn’t the money to fund the resource if additional cost.
• Not always possible to get business analysis involvement early on particularly as there is often a waiting time before resource can be allocated.

There are many reasons why there is value in engaging business analysis before project initiation and at the early stages.? The early stages are one of the most important stages as if the project is built on poor foundations it is likely to fail encountering common issues such as scope creep, solutions that do not meet business needs, project rework and user resistance.

The accountability of the Business Analyst which adds value are the following:

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Developing an in-house Business Analysis Capability

Common problems

The need for business analysis is not recognised

• The business is accustomed to going straight to the solution and speaking directly with developers.
• There are no clear job descriptions and roles for business analysts
• There are no senior representatives supporting the use of business analysis and promoting it

Lack of Business Analysis capability

• No set training or qualification measures
• Competencies are not measured
• Team structure does not support the levels required e.g. mixture of management, leads, senior, normal and junior Business Analysts
• Lack of strategic direction for business analysis and no defined role boundaries

Lack of tools and standards

• No common methodology
• No formal templates
• No common tool sets

Gaining recognition and promoting business analysis

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We hope you find these articles insightful and beneficial for understanding the strategic value of business analysis. By recognizing and leveraging the strengths of business analysis, firms can enhance their decision-making processes and achieve better project outcomes. For more in-depth knowledge and practical techniques, check out The Business Analysis Handbook on Amazon. Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming newsletters. Thank you for being a valued reader!

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