Next 3 Years are Make or Break for Business; New Research Points to
How Business Analysis Can Position for Success
Organizations’
ability to embrace transformation and generate better business outcomes through
business analysis is critical, according to new global study by IIBA and KPMG.
WHITBY,
ON – November 1, 2016: In an ever-increasingly, complex business world, today’s senior leaders are
looking to their business analysis resources to provide timely solutions, value
and insights to help guide their
decision-making. Industry trends show that the next three
years represent a critical moment for organizations, and these high stakes are
demanding a new way of thinking. A new study entitled “Business
Analysis - Positioning for Success” commissioned by International
Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA®) reveals
that organizations are expanding their expectations of business analysis and
they are looking for smart, quick and improved decision-making to help drive organizational success.
Business
leaders are anticipating significant transformation of their company over the
coming three years, and these leaders are concerned about shifting consumer
loyalty, technologies that are disrupting traditional business models and not
having the time to think strategically.
These trends are affecting the role of the business analysis (BA)
professional necessitating a shift from task-based analysis to more
value-driven analysis.
According
to the research, the new BA skills that will be most valuable in the next three
to five years include strategic thinking and analysis, leadership and creative
thinking. This is an advancement of the skill sets that practitioners have
developed today, which include requirements elicitation and documentation. Organizations
view traditional business analysis skills as ‘table stakes’ and are looking for
more strategic, value-added skills to help drive positive business outcomes.
“Organizations are looking
to embrace evolved methods and skillsets to help inform and drive crucial
business decisions,” said Stephen Ashworth, IIBA President and CEO. “This
research clearly shows that the business analysis profession, discipline and industry
are at a pivot point. Never has there
been a more critical need to have the right skilled professionals at the table
who have specialized knowledge to help lead an organization through change.”
The new research study, which was released on Global
Business Analysis Day, demonstrates that as the C-suite prepares for
business transformation, their expectations of BA practitioners is changing as
well. Business leaders agree that the value BA professionals bring to the table
in today’s complex times include identifying and prioritizing new opportunities
(72 per cent), enabling more efficient use of time/resources (72 per cent),
improving understanding, acquisition and retention of customers (63 per cent)
and increasing project success rates (63 per cent).
“Business leaders around the globe are
acutely aware of the importance of navigating through a period of change in an
increasingly demanding business environment,” said Katie Bolla, Associate
Principal, KPMG. “There is recognition that they cannot do it alone and will need
to lean on advanced data and analytics and business analysis professionals who
can drive insights to inform one of the biggest eras of business transformation
in history.”
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Organizations
that don’t embrace the evolving role of the BA risk falling behind. Factors
that prevent expansion of the role and reach of business analysis within an
organization include a lack of leadership awareness of business analysis skill
sets (48 per cent), a lack of sufficient internal BA resources (40 per cent)
and an inability to recruit BA talent (37 per cent).
Other
interesting findings from the research include:
-
Future trends for business analysis include new business
solutions, big data and mobile and digital.
-
Only 19 per cent of practitioners felt their
organization’s C-Suite housed business analysis skill sets, whereas 68 per cent
of leaders felt they did. Business leaders meanwhile, see business analysis
skill sets as dispersed across the functional groups of their organization. The
lack of alignment over where these capabilities exist makes leveraging the
skills difficult.
-
BAs influence how business leaders think about
their organization and how they deploy resources. However, only a fifth of
organizations say they are going to hire new BA talent in the next three to
five years (20 per cent), with the majority of organizations maintaining
existing resources (55 per cent) or training existing resources (52 per
cent).
About
International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA®)
International Institute of Business Analysis
(IIBA) is a professional association dedicated to helping the business analysis
community create better business outcomes. Through a global network, IIBA
connects more than 29,000 Members and more than 300 Corporate Members and 120
Chapters. As the voice of the business analysis community, IIBA supports the
recognition of the profession and discipline and works to maintain the global
standard for the practice and certification.
For
a copy of the new research report, please visit www.iiba.org/research.
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