It is an interesting question...what is the role of the Business Analyst (BA) and is it changing?
As technology changes and becomes more intertwined with normal business, it seems like the BA is getting redefined. Disappearing are the days of BAs in the business that just do financial modeling and don't have to understand data warehousing and don't have to write custom queries. Disappearing are the days of BAs in IT that simply capture requirements but don't have to understand the business objectives or the business processes. Outside of a few industries, the company's technology has become the business.
There are lots of discussions on this all pointing out the fact that things are changing or need to change. I sum this up well from a conversation I had with an executive at a large company the other day. I asked him why he would hire a consultant to help him with his BPMS project. He said that IT viewed it as a threat and his Six Sigma team wasn't focused on technology. He needed people that understood business and technology. This wasn't an isolated incident. I have had several clients tell me the same thing. This is the role that companies haven't built, and the role that is hard to recruit.
- Blog on the Year of the BA
- The Accidental Business Analyst
- Difficulty of hiring BAs
- Business Process Expert (SAP article - simply click ok to the digital certificate request to view)
- GeekGap book
From The Power of Process, Kiran Garimella talks about the role of the BA says "They need to ask the right questions, they must challenge assumptions, they must know how to model processes, they must know how to model data, and must understand the capabilities of the IT systems as thoroughly as possible." (pg. 28)
I think this topic deserves lots of focus. Where do these new BAs come from? How to you groom them? What is their career path?
I think that BPM and BPMS may be the catalyst to drive this change. These implementation teams are small so people need to be proficient in technology and process. The software is simple but requires a basic understanding of coding, integration, architecture, and software engineering. With a small team, everyone plays a role in project management which means the BA has another hat to wear. I think this is a good thing, but companies need to understand and look for this.
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