Why are business analysts not reaching their full potential?
Business Analysis is a widespread word that has seen many variants of the role applied to different organisations without a clear industrywide recognised and shared role definition. Even though there are some specific and industry recognised qualifications and groups, different organisations have different expectations of what is required of their business analysts. It is challenging for business analysts to add value under these circumstances, especially when there are constraints on training and development budgets.
In a world where businesses are challenged by constant change to keep up with the demands and needs of their customers, never has there been a time where the role of the ‘business analyst’ is critical for organisations in ensuring a business’s needs are clearly identified and the correct solutions defined to meet those specific needs.
From an individual Business Analyst perspective, having access to the proper training and support when carrying out their role, could be the difference between being able to do the job effectively or getting poor feedback on their performance. Poor feedback can badly affect their confidence which has a longer term impact on performance.
With the role in high demand and constraints around time and budgets in ensuring an organisation gets the best from their Business Analysts, being able to bridge that gap and get the most from business analysis, will not only add real value to a business in terms of quality, but also ensure their BA’s are at their most productive, in ever changing business environments.
Alex Papworth
Alex has been a freelance business analyst for the last 15 years. His work has given him a lot of variety:
- Most of the high street banks
- Hard core IT BA, designing user interactions
- Lead BA, taking a strategic view on the best approach to deliver the business benefits
- Couple of startups for variety (he works mainly for big banks but loves inventing new solutions in a startup!)
Sometime in 2009 he got an idea. Having been responsible for improving his own BA ‘craft’ for all of that time he was frustrated by his progress. He believed better solutions were possible with the addition of technology; Wikipedia, crowd-sourcing etc are an inspiration.
He also thought that that the knowledge of the BA community must be part of a great solution.
He has become an active member of the BA community by:
- leading the IIBA UK Chapter for a couple of years
- mentoring individual BAs
- set up mentoring and development programmes
- runs his own BA community focussed on improving performance
He has also built a lot of useful contacts so he knows who to call when he has a gap in his own knowledge.
Email: alex.papworth@aspireba.co.uk
Phone: 07974 406569