A business analyst is a person who deals with business related to data, both self-generated and acquired. This data might be the company’s old marketing records, sales or financing records, or customer records, or it can be the records of the company’s competitors. A business analyst is also required to provide reports, or insights based on available data, using skills, such as problem-solving qualities and critical thinking. These particular skills are acquired by business analysts from programmes that offer certifications for business analyst professionals. A business analyst is also required to have an analytical approach to their work in order to help the concerning businesses reach their target. The primary role of a business analyst comprises data, decision, prediction, and performance.
A business analyst from the field of Analytics differs from that of the IT sector. But, there their job roles remain more or less the same. Thus, it is very important to understand that a business analyst in the Analytics domain creates a statistical representation of numerical data by analysing it and providing a virtual touch to the said data for better understanding.
Listed below are tasks and responsibilities that analysts do in the domain of business analytics:
- They gather information about the target audience through conducting surveys and studying historical data
- They review the presence of customers on different online platforms
- They go through customer reviews for driving a company towards better performance
- They ensure feasible decisions based on behavioural patterns of customers to understand business performance metrics
- They comprehend what clients want and what determines their decision making
- A business analyst utilizes accumulated data for achieving heightened performance.
- They conduct the SWOT analysis of a business to ensure new business possibilities
- They help escalate revenue growth with effective and efficient resource allocation skills
- They understand business requirements and optimize business operations accordingly
Now that it is clear that the job responsibilities of a business analyst in the domain of business analytics differ from the job roles and responsibilities of a business analyst in the IT sector, it will be easier to understand the job description of a business analyst.
Job Description of a Business Analyst
The job roles and responsibilities of a business analyst in a company primarily deal with developing exclusive business decisions that are practical and tangible. The following pointers help elucidate the resourcefulness and techniques that business analysts work with to justify their job role —
Contemporary and Historical Data Assessment
Once a business analyst understands what a business requires to thrive more in the market, they put their critical thinking skills to use. A business analyst needs to assess the data and acquire the understanding of its analogy and the psychology of the target audience in order for the data to lead to innumerable possibilities of conscious decision making. These professionals have to compare current and historical data to derive an authentic conclusion.
Business Requirement Awareness
The main skill required of a business analyst is to sense what the business needs to acquire its targets, and, as a result, do the work accordingly. In order to do that, business analysts run SWOT analysis — one of the techniques that business analysts need to be familiar with. They need to master to nuances of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, as well as threats of the business to make better and improved data-driven decisions. It will give an organization the advantage to have a thorough understanding of the moves of their competitor companies. From marketing to managing sales and finances, SWOT analysis is the steering wheel that any business needs to operate effectively and efficiently.
Business analysts also need to maintain documentation of business ideas, solutions, and productivity in the form of figures and numbers. A business analyst also knows the significance of documentation of the research and solutions related to business.
Business Analyst Salary According to the Certifications for Business Analyst Professionals
When it comes to the pay scale of a business analyst, there is no fixed amount. The salary of a business professional depends upon several different things, such as their qualification, job experience, the type of companies they have worked for, etc. All these things play a significant role in determining the salary of a business analyst.
Since business analytics is a new area of study, the demand for trained professionals is also extremely high. The average salary of a business analyst ranges somewhat around INR 55,000/- a month in India.
