IT Decisions Research Network #14 - Positioning business analysts in your organization

8/3/2019 IT Decisions Research Network #14 - Positioning business analysts in your organization

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ITD #14 Positioning business analysts in your organization

IT Decisions 20 December 2011 All rights reserved

Positioning business analysts in

your organizationITD Research #14

20 December 2011


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IntroductionThe role of the systems or process analyst used to be

very structured and scientific. They acted as a conduit

between the software development function and the

system specification process, in the days when systems

were specified in great detail before a programmer evergot near to the project.

But these days, the focus is more on business processes

and so the role has evolved into that of the business

analyst (BA). Even so, their role remains as an expert

advisor to the developers. The BA is able to answer

questions on behalf of the business and specify a

technical system from the point of view of the non

technical user.

The traditional route to the BA role was from the

software development team. A developer with a keen

interest in the business and a desire for promotion would

see a new role as an ambassador for IT as a step up the

career ladder.

But increasingly, businesses have appointed BAs with no

IT experience, citing that industry knowledge is the key

strength of a BA not how an IT system works.

IT has now become a critical tool for companies in almostevery imaginable industry. Retailers, airlines,

manufacturers, and government departments all rely

completely on IT systems to satisfy their

customer demands.

It is therefore worth reviewing the BA

role as the critical link between thetechnical side of the IT function and the

operational business staff the users.

In this IT Decisions report, we asked our

group of IT leaders for their views on the

BA role and whether it can still be

considered a part of the IT department.

The result of the research cycle is a

section with a visual representation ofwhat the members of our community

have said, followed by a section that

lists the most relevant feedback, put

into context. Lastly, we present a

summary of the findings of this

collaborative research exercise.

It is worth reviewingthe role of business

analyst as the key

link between the

technical and

operational parts of

the business


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Visual theme representationIn your company, is the business analysis function performed within the IT department or within

the business itself?

How important is a technical understanding of IT to the role of a business or process analyst?

20%

50%

30%

Business

IT

Both

5%

75%

20%

Not Important

Quite Important

Very Important

Essential


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Do your business analysts manage requirements from all project stakeholders equally, including

IT and the business sponsors?

How do you ensure your business analysts work closely with the IT team?

65%

25%

5%5%

They balance all needs well

They favor the business

They favor IT

They favor whoever pays

them

15%

55%

10%

20%Locate them together

Regular meetings

Promote to BA from the ITteam

Other


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Is the BA role a natural career progression for technical team members?

***

10%

80%

5%

5%

No, it is focused on business

process

It is one path, but not the

only one

Technical staff can remain in

a technical career

Yes, it's a good move with

more responsibility


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CIO feedback in context

The visual data gives a clear indication of how critical the role of the business analyst is to a

successful IT department, but one of our IT leaders believes that its about personal attributes, not

their departmental affiliation that matters: I had business analysts from IT and other business

areas. Good results are associated with the profile of the analyst, rather than their origin.

[Consumer Goods]

Other leaders, emphasizing that to own a business process, the analyst needs a detailed

understanding of that area of the business, echoed this view: In my experience, the business

analyst or IT analyst comes from their own area of the business where they were formerly acting

as key users and process owners. They belong to IT and act across the business areas as a kind of

account manager to those client areas. They demand all the needs of the users from the areas they

represent and in my experience they have managed to strike a good balance between IT and the

business areas.[Media]

But business analysis is a complex role, which also requires the ability to manage stakeholders and

to engage in corporate politics in short, it needs dedication: Business analysts in my company

have now evolved to become BRMs (Business Relationship Managers) and are focused on the

relationships with the business.

The role has a lot to do with processes, but mainly demand and stakeholder management, project

expediting and a lot of communication. An important consideration is to have people with

exclusive dedication to the role, to prevent demands around operations acting as overlapping

factors with the activity of making the business evolve.[Real Estate]

With a much wider set of responsibilities, such as nurturing relationships with budgetholders in

addition to the analysis itself, it is likely that the analyst will need a closer relationship to the

business than to IT.

So the idea of spending time away from IT being important was supported by several of theexecutives that participated in this research cycle: It helps to let the business analyst spend as

much as possible within the business area with which he/she is engaged. That way, the

professional can understand the difficulties through the prism of the business and also help IT to

deliver products that are more relevant to their needs.

The expansion of knowledge of the business area coupled with the IT knowledge facilitate in the

identification of those needs and enables innovative proposals that only those who spend more

time outside of IT can identify.[Logistics]


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As well as an increased business focus, there should be a greater level of attention on the endresult of the project. Now finding the right profile can be tricky at times: The profile of the

business analyst must be focused on achieving results, and for this he/she must know the business,

be agile (time to market), know how to relate to others (dealing with IT and user areas), think

"outside the box" (innovation and creativity) and finally, have an entrepreneurial profile (thinking

that you can always improve).

How do you find this superman? As the IT market is hot, you interview candidates who are still

juniors, believe they are midlevel and want to get senior salaries. In our case we have chosen to

develop people from both IT and business areas and create an environment of constant challenges

and development so that they stay in the organization.[Manufacturing]

Some IT leaders stressed that the connection back to the focus of the IT team is key: Business

analysts must understand both the business and their specific area. They also must have training in

IT in order to better translate these requirements and forward them on the IT organization.

They should stay within the business area they are assigned to and act as consultants, in the same

way in which the HR department works with the business areas.[Consumer goods]

On the other hand, some IT executives mentioned that IT itself has a number of flaws and it can

be useful to have people doing the analysis without being guided by the IT team: My experience

is to have business analysts working in the areas of business and process analysts working within

IT. It's been a very good experience, the system specifications are definitely much richer and

frequent meetings help in terms of calibrating the work with IT points of view.

Often we discuss the need to move them to IT. In my opinion, this weakens the model: we then get

back to the "vices" of IT applied to business, which can also be translated into applications with

the face of IT when you impose yourself and cause damage to the business.[Insurance]

In terms of skills, most chiefs agree that combining IT and business knowledge is key: The area of

IT, by definition, is based on logical and structured processes. This characteristic helps in the

definition and specification of projects. Joining a holistic view of a business analyst with the logic

required in the IT field increases the performance of any team.

IT is not a product and therefore cannot be "sold" for that reason, understanding and alignment

with business areas is essential to any successful project. [Insurance]

Another interesting point of view noted how IT can provide a safety net with the organization,

helping business analysts to realize their importance to the company as a whole. The executive in

question also commented on client responsibilities for processes:


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Putting them in IT is a way to protect them, to help them make a career, to build a trueprofessional family. When spread across divisions, business analysts can, in theory, gain visibility

and prestige. But in most cases, the risk is one of being forgotten and abandoned. They are more

vulnerable without a protector hence it is our choice to absorb much of the knowhow for

processes.

It is important that responsibilities are clearly defined between IT and the customer. Wherever

they are business analysts, IT does not own the business processes. Our clients cannot escape the

responsibility of defining processes and validating them. Finally, there is a fairly common viewpoint

on the future of enterprise IT. The function would outsource most of the technicaloperational

activities and business analysis itself will be the focus of their work. [Chemicals]

So even if the IT team takes control of most process specification, our IT leaders stress that it must

still be the business that owns those processes.

But for some, the ability to apply business processes to an IT system is crucial to avoid disasters

further down the line: It is important that the business analyst also has technical background and

knowledge of technology architecture and business systems. Focus and business knowledge alone

are not enough. If there is no technical bias in business analysis, one runs the risk of proposing

unviable solutions. [Consumer Services]

Above all though, the business analyst is clearly one of the most critical players in the business

and IT relationship. Even if highlevel management relations work well, it is the role of the BA to

ensure that processes are mapped into effective IT systems that support the business, therefore it

will remain a blended role that attracts both businessfocused and ITfocused employees.

One of the IT leaders participating in this research cycle commented that the career path around

the BA role has many different avenues. The executive also went on to comment how it is

important to have businessfocused staff both in IT and across business areas in his organization:

Not every IT analyst needs to be a business analyst. There are more technicallyfocused career

options in areas such as support, network, or database administration, where the business

awareness can be less. However, this professional should have the visibility of their importance in

assisting the company. At this point, any professional in any field has to understand how their

processes contribute to the business.

The IT analyst professionals who work on the development of solutions, be it with internal tools,

specifying ERP systems and so on must have a view of a business analyst. The business areas

should develop professionals that are hierarchically subordinated to those departments and also

have fluency in technology to help assess, define, choose and support the deployment and

support technological solutions. Finally, in our model, it is important to have professionals with the

business analysis both in IT and the business. [Food Production]


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Conclusion and Executive SummaryThe debate over business and process analysis is complex and closely related to the businessIT

divide, an area explored by the IT Decisions Research Group in the past. The key question centers

on how best the IT team can relate to an operational business, with process experts closer to the

business or IT. So how do you do that?

Our IT leaders were clear in several of their conclusions:

Half of all business analysis is retained by the IT teams Threequarters of our IT leaders suggest that a technical understanding of how IT works is

critical to being able to advise as a business analyst.

Two thirds of our IT leaders believe that the business analysts in their company manage tosuccessfully blend the needs of both IT and the business.

Over half of our survey respondents use regular meetings to ensure the business analystscan work effectively with the business sponsors and the IT team.

A clear majority (80%) of our IT leaders suggested that a business analyst role is not theonly career progression for good technical team members there are many routes up the

career ladder and technical experts can remain technical.

Our detailed feedback echoed these points. There were many arguments presented on both theside of keeping business analysts closer to IT or the business, but one of the key differences noted

was around the need for a BA to be more politically aware.

A technical team member can focus on deadlines, specifications from the analysts, and ensuring

that the customer is getting their system delivered as expected and on time. A BA often has to

manage far more than just the businessIT relationship. Managing the ego of key stakeholders will

expose them to budgetary politics rather than just assuming that the best project is always the

one that gets developed.

A better appreciation of this means that technical team members can be appropriately trained forentry into the BA role, with their expectations calibrated correctly. In can also help IT team

members to work more effectively with the BA, if they understand the need for various tradeoffs

between what the business wants and what the IT team can deliver.

On the whole, our IT leaders prefer the BA role to remain in IT as might be expected but there

is a strong case for the IT department to have a much better understanding of what makes a great

BA and how best to work with them.


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IT Decisions ResearchIT Decisions produces a report like this fortnightly, based on what CIOs told us that a week before.

It is fast and relevant knowledge from your peers, it is only available to the CIOs in the research

network, and it is free.

What is the catch? You pay by participating. Every other week, we will send you four simple

questions that will take no more than five minutes to answer.

The more participants, the better the quality of the research. So please do invite your

colleagues to join! Get in touch with recommendations via [email protected] you want to direct the research and define the topics alongside our board of founder

members? We also offer Platinum memberships that allow you to steer the process, as well as

other benefits including comprehensive reports, facetoface focus sessions and more.

Future SkillsThe IT Decisions FutureSkills fund is a charitable, transparent fund focused on improving IT

education and training in Brazil.

If you recommend a Platinum member to the network, we will donate R$500 to the fund in your

name and Platinum members will get to choose which organization gets the money at the end

of one year of the launch of the IT Decisions research initiative. Please contact us for more details.


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About IT DecisionsIT Decisions is the premier source of insight into the technology and hightech service industry in

Brazil. The company creates Englishlanguage news and insight for a CIO audience with regular

features and analysis that cannot be found elsewhere.

We focus on decisionmakers and influencers the buyside. Reproducing the sales pitch or

adverts of suppliers is not our thing; we focus on those buying the systems. IT Decisions was founded in 2011 by Mark Hillary and Angelica Mari, two of the most respected

business and technology writers in Europe with a collection of bestselling books and industryawards between them.The IT Decisions research network is an invitationonly group of CIOs in Brazil who work together

to produce a new research report every week.Take a moment to connect with the IT Decisions management on LinkedIn and take a look at some

of their books, other media, blogs, and publications:

Mark Hillary, CEOhttp://j.mp/markhillary

Angelica Mari, Publishing Director

http://j.mp/angelicamari

Mark, Angelica, and the whole IT Decisions team is based in So Paulo, Brasil the biggest city in

the Southern Hemisphere.

www.itdecs.com

Image Credits licensed under Creative Commons

Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden http://www.flickr.com/photos/joostijmuiden/4485190116/ (cover)Paul Downey http://www.flickr.com/photos/psd/1805590643/ (Lockup Your Data)

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IT Decisions Research Network #14 - Positioning business analysts in your organization

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