So You Want to Be a Business Analyst
The Salesforce Business Analysts community occasionally gets a question like:
I want to pursue a business analyst career. What path should I take?
Let’s explore how you could start your journey.
Business Analyst, Defined
Business analysis often starts with defining terms, so let’s start with a definition of the business analyst role.
Business analysts drive improvements to their clients’ business, such as offering a new service, increasing productivity, or gaining insights into their customers. The concept map below shows an overview of business analysis activities:
Business analysts are most commonly known for eliciting and analyzing customer requirements. They look at what a client has, what a client needs and discover the gaps between them. They figure out how to fill those gaps.
Discovering the Skills Gaps
If you are considering a business analyst career, first understand what the role expects from you. Then, think like a business analyst and analyze your skills. What skills do you have that could contribute to the role and what skills do you need to build to meet the expectations of the role? Where are the gaps between the skills you have and those expected of a business analyst? How do you fill those gaps? For example, do you need business or technical education? Would coaching from an experienced business analyst fill some of the gaps?
Why Become a Business Analyst?
Think about why you want to become a business analyst. Those who want to take on a business analyst role usually aspire to do more than they do in their current position. For example, a Salesforce administrator wants to go beyond deploying apps to playing a larger role in their development. She understands the Salesforce platform and can overcome technical obstacles to make a solution work. She realizes that she needs to develop leadership skills to drive development of solutions through business or political challenges.
Perhaps you admire a business analyst and wish you had his/her curiosity, insight and persuasiveness to drive a solution to successful completion. What would you ask him/her about becoming a business analyst? What is your biggest curiosity about the role? What specific insights do you want to explore as a business analyst? For example, how does he/she develop relationships with other stakeholders? How does he/she translate concepts between business and technical people? Think back to the skills you would bring to a business analyst role. You could pitch them to the star business analyst, then ask him/her what other skills you need to develop, and how you could do so.
Build Skills and Alliances
Becoming a business analyst starts with gap analysis - a core business analysis competency. Discover what’s expected of a business analyst, the talent you have to meet those expectations and the talent you need to develop to excel as a business analyst. Determine how you will fill those gaps.
As a prospective business analyst, you should form alliances with those who will help you fill your talent gaps. Determine who has talents that complement yours, where you could exchange knowledge to develop your talent. Business analysis requires persuasiveness, so start with those who you can help in exchange for helping you develop your talent.
If you need more information about starting out in business analysis, check out Bridging the Gap, a site with abundant information about starting and sustaining a business analysis career.
Start your journey as a business analyst by analyzing and filling your skill gaps. Show those who can guide you on your journey how they will benefit from helping you.