A proper skill set is fundamental in any career and is no different for the business analyst role. The skills of a business analyst are not entirely technical or non-technical. It is a diverse job role that requires technical, non-technical, and even soft skills to do well.
Below is a list of top skills a BA needs, although they are not limited to these:
- COMMUNICATION: This is one of the most important skills a business analyst must possess. The primary role of a business analyst is to provide solutions to businesses; hence being able to share their ideas and views with their team clearly and concisely is crucial. Therefore, communication skills are indispensable to launching and maintaining a successful business analysis career. A business analyst applies communication skills at every turn of the project, from launching a project, eliciting requirements, liaising with stakeholders, and validating the final solutions. Every aspect of the business analysis process relies heavily on communication.
- NEGOTIATION / PERSUASION SKILL: A business analyst requires negotiation skills to bridge IT and an organization’s business. A business analyst uses negotiation skills to decide which request should be a requirement in a project and should also be able to convince everyone to see things differently, consider other alternatives, and take their solution. check out Business analyst Certification program also
- DOCUMENTATION SKILL: Documentation is writing down and recording everything you do while creating and implementing your business solution. Business analysts need to document their process from start to finish. A business analyst should be able to explain every process of a project. In addition, organized documentation will help you communicate the technical aspect of a project to non-technical employees.
- DECISION-MAKING SKILL: Every decision a business analyst makes is critical and crucial to the business and directly impacts the project. Therefore, BAs must be skilled at making good decisions. It is ultimately on the Business analyst to make an effective decision; hence a business analyst should not be in a hurry as business owners are counting on their decision to solve their problem fully.
- TECHNICAL SKILLS: A Business analyst must be proficient in technical skills to succeed. Acquiring technical skills like SQL, big data, and HTML will go a long way in a business analyst’s career.
- CRITICAL THINKING: A business analyst should be able to think critically, as they need to meet the client’s expectations.
- PERFECT LISTENING SKILL: A business analyst’s Another important skill is listening. They do not listen for the sake of it. Instead, they listen as they should be able to understand and gather essential information for their clients.
- EXCEL SKILL: With proficiency in Microsoft Excel, you can conveniently do calculations, summarize data with pivot tables, create graphs, pie charts, and more.
- TIME MANAGEMENT: Time management is another essential skill of a business analyst. Projects have a deadline, and in order to meet the deadlines, you need to be good at managing your time.
- Ability to see the bigger picture – This is a critical skill for all BAs; focusing on the given set of requirements and not seeing the bigger picture often leads to a situation where the product does not see the light of the day or gets abandoned. Hence this is one of the very important skills to have; you need to have good business knowledge and knowledge of technology/business advancements to see a bigger picture and keep it in mind while the designing of the system is being carried out. Download Business Analyst Interview questions at the end of this
In conclusion, working as a Business analyst without the necessary skills can be difficult. However, with a combination of soft, technical, and hard skills, you are on your way to the top.
