Business Analysis Certification: Crucial for Your Career Growth
Businesses around the world have grown exponentially in the past decade. Business houses no longer follow traditional business models, as they realize that they must adopt new digital and organizational tools to grow their business in the current age. Business analysis is one of the most popular topics among digital leaders, and the tech world is especially in a never-before-seen demand for professionals with Business Analysis Certification. In this article, we look at what business analysis is, and how to employ business analysis techniques and tools to maximize your business profits. Read on to know more.
What is Business Analysis?
The process of Business Analysis deals with the analysis of business needs and finding solutions to various business problems. The solutions may be anything ranging from software development, process improvements, strategic planning, and policy development to organizational change. The process of business analysis involves the analysis, comparison, and validation of a lot of information.
What do Business Analysts do?
Business analysts bridge the gap between technology and business by assessing processes and making data-driven recommendations using data analytics to stakeholders and executives. Business analysis certified professionals are able to combine analytical and business skills to understand business requirements, lay out organizational plans, and develop actionable insights. They are the ones who interact with the clients to understand their needs and perspectives. They enable the business to adapt to any changing environment and implement changes as and when required. They have to ensure proper communication between different departments in the organization to execute business plans. Business Analysts are expected to use visualization tools like R, Tableau, and Excel, data management tools like SQL, problem-solving techniques, and statistical and interpersonal skills to drive the business forward in an organization. Therefore, Business Analysis is apt for professionals with experience in project management, business development, and technology.
Importance of Business Analysis
Business analysis is central to running large organizations today. Business analysts are important for creating documents and implementing processes for identifying areas for improving business and driving organizational change. It is pivotal for strategic planning and the development of policies for enhancing an organization. Organizations use business analysis to achieve business goals by discovering and implementing positive changes that will drive the organization forward. These changes may be either internal processes and policy changes or external changes in the way the organization competes in the market or interacts with external stakeholders.
Business analysis role helps in facilitating communication among various stakeholders within an organization. Let us consider a case of business analysis being used in software development. In business analysis, the requirements of the business stakeholders are converted to simple documents that developers can understand. This is helpful during the project implementation phase, where software solutions are created to fulfill business requirements in the form of a working product.
Functions of a Business Analyst
A business analyst plays various roles in an organization. Some of the responsibilities they handle are:
- They interact with current and future customers to understand their business requirements and convey how your product or solution can help fulfill those business requirements. Only business analysts with related training and experience can analyze client requirements from the organization’s business perspective.
- Further, business analysts also design new solutions to meet the client’s larger business objectives and needs. For this, a business analyst must possess thorough awareness and the ability to adopt and use the organization’s products to the client’s advantage.
- Business analysts also create presentations, demos, and effective documentation such as business cases, use-case scenarios, FAQs, and meeting notes to promote the products and solutions of the organization. Sometimes they even lead the customer success teams to keep a tab on the project milestones for production.
- An additional role business analysts play is in conducting training sessions for the client to make them familiar with the usage and adoption of the products or business solutions. Moreover, they convey feedback from the clients about the solutions to the product team.
Benefits of a Business Analysis Certification
Now let us look at what are the advantages of having a business analysis certification:
- Better visibility: A certificate in Business Analysis gives you the extra visibility that you require in a tough job market to negotiate better job prospects and payment.
- Higher salary: The average annual salary of Business analysts in the United States is $68,731. So, seeking a career as a certified business analyst is monetarily rewarding. The fact that you need not pursue years-long college degrees to work in these high-paying positions makes business analyst certification yet another attractive option for job seekers.
- Work in diverse industries: Business analysts are needed in almost all the major industries ranging from healthcare, finance, retail, and entertainment. Unlike most careers, business analysis gives you the opportunity to work in any industry that piques your interest.
- Work in diverse roles: Getting a business analyst certification seldom ties you down to a singular career path as a business analyst. Professionals with Business analyst certifications are also highly in demand for various roles such as solution designer, business architect, product analyst, etc.
- Showcases your dedication and competence: Getting a business analysis certification is in itself a challenging task that involves taking up challenging projects, working under pressure, meeting deadlines, and out of the box thinking. So, having a business analysis certification is regarded by many companies as proof of your grit and dedication.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, we have discussed why a business analysis certification can help accelerate your career. We have looked at the various roles played by professionals with business analysis certification in a wide variety of industries. If you are aspiring to a challenging role that offers high rewards, then a business analysis certification is the best option for you. You can click on the link in the introduction paragraph to join the Professional Certificate Program in Business Analysis from Purdue University, delivered in partnership.