Every Employee As a 'Business Analyst'

Business Analysis along with operational research have always been fascinating subjects to me. I have been lucky to have been part of requirement analysis for projects that need translation of business needs to geek for business process (BP) implementation. Business analysis provides a foundational stone of building especially when new changes are implemented in business processes, initiation of new projects or while making paradigm shifts in operational management. When an organization goes through these changes the tools sets in the BA's life becomes a combination of skills and behaviors he or she has developed over the course of years in terms of modelling, systemic thinking, inter-personal communication, root cause analysis, and general analytical skills. Keep in mind however, the end result in whatever way these skills are employed by the BA, the end objective is to improve and make the business better.

Using prototypes and models have long been and become the life source of rich communication for a business analyst. Modelling and UI designs especially help in reducing vital mistakes, understanding of bottlenecks and capturing of information from the end users that may have been missed. It gives the analyst the understanding of what people do, not what they say they are doing to make BP more optimal. So it boils down to communication and cultural.

Communication within the organization and between vendors/partners though crucial and a BA is a bridging gap being the assigned professionals who does full time business analysis a cultural change from the top down to treat every employee as BA has even greater merits. This means employees who are empowered to be a process improver's or be a  generator of ideas to improve BP's will ultimately help those project leaders and professional BA's to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Business analysis is after all ....the art of improving the business and every employee when treated as a professional with job descriptions filled in with details of improving process's, the end result is an ever evolving organization that is optimized to take advantage of the opportunities that come up in the market place. A culture like this discovers the business policies re-visits, re-evaluates and reforms these policies from time to time.

My thoughts till the next time,

Sam Kurien