What is business analytics?
Business research is a set of methods and techniques used to work as a link between stakeholders to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization and to recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals (IIBA: International Business Analysis Institute). .
Business research involves understanding how organizations work to achieve their goals. At the same time, identifying the opportunities an organization needs to provide products and services to external stakeholders. This includes defining the organization’s goals, how these goals relate to specific goals, defining the lines of action that the organization should take to achieve those goals and objectives, and how different organizational units and stakeholders interact within and outside the organization.
Business analytics can be done to understand the current state of the organization or to clarify business needs. In most cases, business analysis is performed to identify and validate solutions that meet business needs and goals.
Business analysts need to analyze and synthesize information provided by a large number of people who interact with the business, such as customers, employees, IT professionals and executives. The business analyst is responsible for identifying not only the expressed desires of stakeholders, but also their real needs. In many cases, the business analyst will also work to facilitate communication between organizational units. In particular, business analysts often play a central role in matching the needs of business units to the opportunities offered by information technology, and can act as a “translator” between those groups.
“A business analyst has a responsibility to identify the business needs of customers and users, to help them identify solutions to their problems.”
There is a universal consensus that business research requires a holistic approach. Although business analytics plays a key role in supporting management to maximize business benefits. It must be in the context of the entire business system.
Business analytics emphasizes improving the performance of the entire business system. This means that while technology may seem like a factor in improving business operations, there are other possibilities. Focusing on business improvement rather than the use of automation can lead to the use of IT. There may be situations where a short-term non-IT solution is both useful and cost-effective. For example, the problem can be solved by developing internal standards or trainings. These solutions can then be replaced by long-term IT solutions, but the initial approach met the immediate needs. Once urgent problems have been resolved, long-term solutions can be considered. As business analysts, it is important to focus on identifying opportunities for improvement that are relevant to the needs of a particular situation. If we do, we can recommend changes that will help achieve real business improvements.
The business analysis process can be divided into five simple steps:
- Orientation before analysis
This step requires the business analyst to understand the business needs, existing systems, business processes, and scope of the project before performing any high-level business analysis.
- Identify and manage business requirements
After completing the pre-analysis activities, the next step is to clearly define the business objectives and project requirements that the business owners have in mind. This role, played by business analysts, involves identifying the company’s detailed requirements and expectations from shareholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders.
- Requirement analysis and documentation
This step is the basis of business analytics. The methods and tools required for the analysis are clearly defined here. Other key tasks are to structure and describe possible solutions to the business problems being analyzed and developed.
- Analytical communication
Before any solution can be agreed and implemented, the business systems analytical plan must be communicated and approved by the business stakeholders.
- Evaluate solutions
Finally, the identified solutions are evaluated by project managers to align them with the core business goals and requirements initially defined. If the solutions do not meet the original business objectives, the role of the business analyst is essentially incomplete.
