A business analyst is a person who analyses the issues encountered by a company, does his/her research and provides the required solution. A company can run into roadblocks at any point of time depending on the market conditions. A business analyst needs to analyse, calculate, track all these changes and compile a document consisting of the possible solutions for the company wherein it can efficiently surpass the roadblock and enter a profitable situation. Hence, the role of a business analyst in a company is indispensable and necessary for the successful operations of the company. There are a few responsibilities of a business analyst that are clearly explained below:

Link between development team and stakeholders

A business analyst will have to communicate with the development team of the company and the clients who have requested for a particular project. Strong communication skills and efficient negotiating & team skills are necessary while dealing with clients. The development team could have queries regarding certain aspects of the project. As per the protocol, they cannot directly communicate with the client on the issue. They need to report it to the business analyst who will contact the client and obtain the required information. The business analyst need not have an experience in the IT sector in order to deal with the clients. It does help if he/she has an IT background but, it’s not mandatory to be an efficient business analyst.

Problem Solving

This is one of the core jobs of a business analyst. He/she has to analyse a given problem by breaking it down into its principal components. Once this is done, the business analyst has to look at each component in order to determine which component is causing the problem. After the component is identified, he/she has to do the calculations, conduct a research, and demonstrate the necessary results. These results should be backed by all the necessary data and the sources of the data. The solution to the problem could also lead the company to make a profit from the situation. The business analyst will have to then create a presentation with all the data that has been collected and show it to the stakeholders. The analyst should have excellent communication skills as well in order to vividly express his analysis to the stakeholders.

Always Available

An organisation could face a problem at any point of time without prior warning. A business analyst should always be available to solve the problem and provide plausible solutions to it. Ideally, the first thing a business analyst should do in the morning is to check his/her emails. Once they have gone through them, they segregate it into different segments – the ones that need immediate attention to the ones that are not urgent. Once this is done, they handle the emails that need immediate attention and solve them right away. The rest of the emails are handled once the analyst is not busy.

Project Manager’s sidekick

A project manager plays a crucial role in a project. He has to allocate the teams and coordinate with them on later stages of the project. To help him do the work efficiently, a business analyst coordinates with him. A business analyst has a discussion with the project manager on a daily basis to understand the status of the project. They then compare the current status of the project to the timeline of the master plan of the project. If there are any issues with the project or if any issues can be avoided in the near future, the business analyst suggests the same to the project manager who successfully implements the suggested changes. The changes suggested by the analyst are based on facts and figures. He also makes a note of the risks he has noticed.

Visionary

When a business analyst is not busy carrying out complex calculations or communicating with the stakeholders, he/she will be on his/her toes planning the possible needs that the company will require in the near future and how to solve those needs. The analyst will also have thorough knowledge about the latest developments in technology so that the company will be able to utilise it to make the processes more efficient.
A business analyst wears multiple hats and helps various departments in a company. In certain situations the business analyst may not be academically qualified to assist in a particular task yet, they are able to provide viable solutions to that problem