What is the role of a business analyst?

A business analyst conducts market analyses, to analyse the product lines and profit of the business. You will assess how the company operates and conduct research from analysed data in order to assist the company in making improvements to their practice and processes, enabling the business’ growth. ​

Responsibilities:

  • Analyse business structure to report on how it operates and determine next steps and aims for the business
  • Identify current problems with how the company operates and make a case for how to fix them
  • Communicate and liaise with colleagues to find out the needs of the teams/departments and the whole organisation
  • Liaise with external stakeholders to gain insight and feedback into the service the company provides
  • Communicate solutions to problems identified through research conducted
  • Prepare and deliver an accurate report on your findings to directors/senior staff
  • Consider and assess potential risks that may come with your suggestions
  • Identify what processes and IT will be required in order to make changes
  • Support staff and teams in making your changes and resolving issues, offering training workshops to guide teams
  • Carry out recurring quality checks

Types of business analyst:

  • General business analyst
  • Data analyst
  • Operations analyst
  • Full stack business analyst

Tech stack employed:

  • Excel
  • Tableau
  • Power BI
  • Python
  • SQL
  • Snowflake
  • Spark
  • NoSQL

​Qualifications:

  • Degree in business information or computing, or similar degree
  • A few years’ experience in business management or in implementing new systems
  • Preferred candidate will have completed an internship or had a previous position in this role
  • Excellent research and analytic skills
  • Problem solving skills
  • In depth knowledge of data modelling and techniques
  • Exceptional attention to detail and analytical skills
  • Knowledge of business management fundamentals which are relevant
  • Excellent attention to detail
  • Knowledge of relevant software

Professional development:

In this role you have the opportunity to advance your career and specialise in a particular area such as data analytics. This will make you more sought after and experienced within a certain field. With experience, you will have the opportunity to progress to a senior level business analyst and even progress to work at a director level.

​Alternative careers:

  • Analyst
  • Operations analyst
  • Software engineer
  • Data scientist
  • Data analyst
  • Applications developer
  • Management consultant