Business analysts play a crucial role in an organization. They help organizations in dealing with huge amounts of data and convert that into valuable information which becomes their reasons for growth. Whether you are a business analyst looking to upgrade your skills or aspire to become one, effective communication and understanding of technical knowledge can allow you to fulfill the organization’s needs. Additionally, learning all these business analyst skills can help you stick out from others and advance your career.
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We’ll delve into the top technical and non-technical skills for business analytics. But before that, let’s talk about business analytics and what they do.
Who is a Business Analyst? What is Their Role in an Organization?
A business analyst is a person who analyzes and optimizes the data of the organization to identify the performance of the organization and identifies the steps to be taken to improve its efficiency. He is also responsible for the operational function happening within the organization relating to recruitment, training, pricing, marketing, new ideas, and planning the long-term vision of the organization.
A business analyst works with employees of all levels of management to recognize the areas that need to be improved and come up with the most effective solutions to business problems.
How to Become a Business Analyst?
Now you know who a business analyst is and what roles are performed by them, let’s find out how to become a business analyst with the help of the following steps:
- Learn the basis of Business Analysts
Knowing the fundamentals are very essential not only in business analysis but also in any other profession. You can start by learning the basic concepts of Business analysis to figure out if you want to continue it further or not. For this, you can enroll in online courses, read related blogs, or watch tutorials to understand if this job is suitable for you or not.
- Earn a degree related to this field
Once you are done with your basics and have a clear understanding of this job you should start by getting a degree in related fields. A master’s degree in business administration can help you gain interest from your future employer.
Nevertheless, anyone with a bachelor’s degree in any domain can enter the field of business analytics. But if you are about to start your studies then doing an undergraduate degree in finance, marketing, human resource or another related field will be very beneficial.
- Develop Business Analysing skills
A degree will help you get qualified for the job but companies look for employees with the knowledge, talent, and ability so they can add value to their company. Developing the right sets of skills can help you in earning interest from your employer. Following is the list of business analytical skills:
Soft Skills required:
- Communication and interpersonal skill
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
- Negotiations skill
- Attentive listening skills
Technical skills required:
- Research skills
- Expertise in a programming language
- Data visualization
- Microsoft Excel
- Documentation and presentation skills
We are going to discuss all these skills in detail later in this article.
- Take courses and get online certificates
Taking courses can help you gain knowledge that is up to date and enhance your resume. The latest knowledge and information can help you garner an edge over others. Make sure to enroll in courses that give you exposure to technical skills and theoretical knowledge.
- Gain practical knowledge
Once you have a grip on all the concepts, techniques, and skills required to be a business analyst, gain practical knowledge by doing a real-time job or internship. It is the time to put all your learning into practice and brush up on your skills to gain real experience. You will be able to learn how the company executes its operational process as well as closely learn the role of a business analyst.
- Prepare a Good Portfolio and Apply for the Job
A good portfolio helps to make a positive impression on your employer. It provides an opportunity to showcase your skills, experience, and knowledge. Additionally, you can add your projects, achievements, expertise, and extracurriculars to your resume. After building a good resume you can apply for jobs through the following sites:
- Naukri.com
- Indeed
- Glassdoor
- Internshala
When applying for jobs don’t forget to alter the resume according to the requirements of the company. Adding a professional LinkedIn profile to your resume can also increase your chances to get hired.
10 Essential Business Analyst Skills for Achieving success
Business analyst skills are crucial for organizations to stay ahead in a constantly evolving market. These skills enable analysts to gather, analyze and interpret data, identify challenges, and develop innovative solutions that drive growth and improve business performance. Below is mentioned the skills that are needed as a business analyst:
1. Listening and Understanding
Undeniably, listening is the primary and most important skill for a business analyst. Even before the projects begin, the job of business analysts starts with actively listening to the requirements of clients. Only a good listener can understand and observe others and this is very essential for a business analyst.
Then they need to convey all the information to other executives and accept their viewpoints. At all levels of the job, listening is important to interpret and assess the information. Listening is a soft skill that can be improved over time. A business analyst can perform other soft skills only when he is a good listener.
2. Communication Skills
Business Analyst works as a mediator between executives, IT professionals, and stakeholders, in this regard communication skills are very essential to them. It helps to communicate ideas and information and ensures that everyone has an understanding of their point of view.
Business analysts need to ask the right questions from clients to know their requirements. Communication is not limited to verbal means but is also done through written mediums.
Business Analysts should be able to write reports, emails, and documents in a comprehensive and extensive manner. They work with all levels of professionals so they must know how to speak a language that can be understood by even non-technical persons.
3. Problem-Solving Skills
Problem-solving is one of the crucial skills for any business analyst. In a business, problems are bound to occur because of uncertainty about the future. The role of a business analyst is challenging at every step and he must overcome all the problems. Problem-solving is the process of gathering information and implementing the best solution and reviewing its result.
When problems occur they analyze various factors and identify them by going to the root cause of the problem. Then they implement the best-suited solution out of different identified solutions. Following by monitoring its results and making further improvements if required.
4. Critical Thinking
Business analysts use all the available facts, evidence, and observations to make a judgment. Critical thinking helps in assessing multiple options before carefully making a choice. It proves most useful when decisions are made between options that are not favorable.
Sometimes situations arise when resources are limited and circumstances seem to be critical and BA is expected to make decisions out of it. They have to make solid reasoning supported by facts. They have to prioritize the gathered information and solve the business problem accordingly. For this, business analysts should have an open mind and clarity about the issue at hand.
Also Read: Business Analytics Trends
5. Negotiation Skills
Negotiation skills come in handy at each phase of a business analyst’s job. It is a process of finding the best outcome which provides a win-win for both parties. Thus, negotiations are used at each phase of the project. Whether determining the vision of the project or giving priority to requirements.
Business analysts have to work with different types of people and hence need negotiation all the time. Sometimes, negotiation is not only about money but more about psychological needs. Often we think that negotiation revolves around money and neglects other needs. A business analyst must be able to communicate their needs and recognize the wants of the other party.
6. Experience with Programing language
Business analysts must have the basic knowledge of programming languages that will help them garner more interest from their future employers. Programming languages like R and python are extremely beneficial to deal with big data. It helps in breaking down complex data with the help of statistical analysis.
Understanding the Visual Basics of Application (VBA) is not necessary but learning this programming language can save a lot of your time in making monthly and daily reports. Business analysts should also be able to work on relational databases and languages like SQL which can help them in manipulating and understanding the complex database. This language does not have a complex structure and is relatively easy to learn.
7. Data Visualisation Skill
Representing data visually with the use of graphics and other aids makes it easier to present the result. It allows us to grasp difficult concepts and identify new trends. But just simply filling data points and automating the graphs at their face value can lead to drawing wrong conclusions.
Therefore, BA should be able to consider the type of data and the type of audience they will present information to for choosing the correct charts. For this, they must be familiar with all the chart and graph types. Data visualization tools like Tableau, Grafana, Chartist, and FusionCharts make it easier to understand and work with huge amounts of data.
8. Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a fundamental skill for a Business Analyst. It is often considered a standard-spreadsheet application to manage data. Although there are many tools and applications to handle data, MS Excel contributes as a crucial role in the business analytics sector.
Business Analysts use this tool for calculation, formatting, and organizing the data in spreadsheets. It helps in unraveling patterns and trends by analyzing data. Excel also serves as a connector between various analysis equipment and packages.
For example, programming languages like VBA are used for automated tasks for excel. Proficiency in basic applications like email writing and word processing application is also essential.
9. Documentation and Presentation Skills
A business analyst needs to analyze data, make reports and create documentation to convey the information. Documentation helps to deliver this data in a very clear, concise, and simple manner. This helps business analysts to make reports that are easy to understand.
Documentation can be quite time-consuming and that’s why they use tools like Doxygen and Confluence to work efficiently. With the use of presentation skills, Business analysts can transmit technical concepts to non-technical people very easily.
Combining the use of different skills like data visualization, communication, and research skills, BA prepares a presentation that is digestible for everyone. Their presentation and reports must be comprehended and error-free.
10. Research Skills
Research Skills are the primary function that business analysts need to perform for collecting data. They use technology, skills, and proficiency in business processes to gather statistical data and analyze it on a monthly and daily basis. This data must be accurate and supported by facts.
Research plays a vital role as business analysts need to provide high-quality and detailed information in their reports. Extensive research helps to gather as much as data that can help in becoming an expert on the issue and solving the business problem.
Here are the best Business Analytics Courses in Bangalore
Different Types of Business Analysts
Following are the types of business analysts with job descriptions, responsibilities, qualifications, and salaries:
- Business Process analysts
Job description: Business process analyst mainly focuses on how operational processes are executed within the business. They serve as a liaison between stakeholders and the IT department to implement the decision and maintain coordination among them.
Key Responsibilities:
- Responsible for providing solutions to improve business processes that are executed in an organization.
- Good understanding of the industry and should interact with clients to recognize their wants.
- Create documentation to examine the workflow of the organization toward achieving the goal.
Salary Overview: The salary of business process analysis ranges between ₹2,05,000 to ₹10,00,000 per annum. The average salary in India is 3,49,000 per annum.
Skills and Qualification:
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in finance, human resources, information technology, or other related fields.
- Sound communication and interpersonal skills.
- Critical thinker to solve problems.
- Can negotiate with clients and other teams in the favor of the organization.
- Basic proficiency in computer programs.
- IT Business analysts
Job description: IT business analysts work mainly between executives and IT professionals. Their main role is to improve IT services, understand business requirements and solve problems if they arise both in the management and IT systems of the company.
Key Responsibilities:
- Research and assess the current process and technologies to understand the problems and challenges.
- Acting as a liaison between stakeholders and IT professionals to understand their needs and offer guidance for the project.
- Collect data to analyze business requirements and monitor the implemented solution to the problem.
Salary Overview: According to ambitionbox.com, IT analysts’ salary ranges between ₹5,90,000 to ₹11,50,000 per annum. Their average salary is estimated at ₹7,20,000 per annum.
Skills and Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in finance, business, or technology-related fields.
- IIBA certificates can be beneficial for business analysts but it is not mandatory.
- Knowledge of programming languages, software tools, databases, and data visualization.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Effective communication skills and knowledge of IT operations in the industry.
- Financial Analyst
Job description: A Financial analyst is a person whose job is to analyze the financial data of a business to identify current trends that can influence the company. Their role in the company includes researching, analyzing forecasting investment strategy, and making investment decisions for the company. They produce monthly reports about the financial performance and progress of the company.
Key Responsibilities:
- Collect and analyze financial data including past financial statements and identify future trends and patterns.
- Using financial data to develop financial models to predict the future and avoid potential risks.
- Communicating and collaborating with other departments to ensure the implementation of financial decisions.
Salary Overview: The salary of a financial analyst according to the ambition box ranges between ₹2,20,000 to 10,70,000 per annum. Their average salary is estimated at ₹4,00,000 per annum.
Qualification and skills:
- Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounts, information technology, or other related fields.
- High proficiency in financial modeling techniques.
- Good command of excel formulas and their functions.
- Strong analytical and data-gathering skills.
- Effective communication and problem-solving skills.
Also Check: Business Analytics Courses in Chennai
- Data analyst
Job description: A Data analyst basically collects raw data, interprets it to find trends and patterns, and presents them together with visualization. They do so to find answers or solve all the specific problems. Data analysts can work in industries like business, government, science, medicine, and, criminal justice.
Responsibilities:
- Researching and obtaining information to complete undone work.
- Work with stakeholders and team and also respond to queries for information.
- Using analytical tools to analyze data and make their work more accurate and efficient.
- Analyzing market trends that could impact the Organisation and the industry.
Salary Overview: The salary of a data analyst according to the ambition box ranges between ₹1,80,000 to 11,80,000 per annum. Their average salary is estimated at ₹4,30,000 per annum.
Skills and Qualification:
- Proficiency in using tools like SQL, Excel, and tableau.
- Understanding of programming languages like python or R.
- Data visualization and presentation skills.
- Good command of statistics and maths.
- Bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in finance, sales, or their related fields.
- UX analyst
Job description: UX (user experience) analyst is a person who collects data and studies how users are engaged with their software on all websites. They work with the UX design team to ensure that they have a good user experience with their software products. Their role is to make sure that the user can perform his desired task on time without any errors.
Key Responsibilities:
- Conduct research, gather user feedback, analyze the data, and make improvements to the design and functionality of the product.
- Work closely with an interdisciplinary team such as product management, software ingenious, and designers to ensure that the product reaches the demand of the client.
- Create user personas and develop user scenarios, wireframes, and prototypes to test and evaluate the overall experience of productive services.
Salary Overview: The salary of a UX analyst according to the ambition box ranges between ₹3,30,000 to 15,90,000 per annum. Their average salary is estimated at ₹9,00,000 per annum.
Skills and Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in psychology, human-computer, design, or related fields.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Proficiency in coding is not necessary but it is a plus.
- Strong understanding of web and mobile technologies
- Strong verbal and written communication.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is SQL required for business analysts?
Yes, learning SQL has become a mandatory skill for business analysts because it helps in retrieving data from various tables. It is relatively easy to learn and get fluent in and also helps in getting an edge over others in the job market.
2. Is being a business analyst a stressful job?
Yes, Business analysts are stressful jobs. BA is involved in projects from beginning to end. They are the communication between clients and their team which can create chaos and stress when their thoughts contradict.
3. Do freshers get hired as Business analysts?
Yes, freshers can get hired as business analysts with the right combination of education, training, and business analyst skills. Developing and demonstrating strong business analyst skills can increase their chances of landing a job in this field.
4. What is the need for Business analysts’ skills?
The effective use of business analyst skills results in a competitive advantage and improved overall success for organizations. Business analyst skills are key to staying ahead in a dynamic market.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role of business analytics is vital in today’s fast-paced business environment. They are responsible for analyzing and understanding the requirements of stakeholders and identifying and implementing the solutions of products. And to perform all these roles they need a unique set of skills to improve the performance of the business. Business analyst skills help not only in performing work efficiently but it can also give you an edge over other competitors in the market.
