Hello All,
Is there a difference between a Business Analyst and a Business Consultant?
Best Regards,
wishes
In my mind these are two separate positions. A Business Consultant can entail many things. Essentially a business consultant is someone who works on a per-hour basis to provide advice or specialized help on one or more areas of business. This could range from marketing to operational efficiency to human resources. This is very different than a Business Analyst position, whose main job is to liase between the business and technical groups of companies, particularly with respect to the development of computer systems.
Keep in mind that some Business Analysts are consultants (myself included). We contract ourselves to projects like other consultants to companies on a per-hour basis. I have called myself a 'Business Anlalyst Consultant' at times when I felt I needed to let the person know I was not an employee of a particular company.
I agree with larimar that, at first glance, there is a distinction. I see the "Business Consultant" as having much more business operations and financial skills and have the ability to help the business make strategic operations decisions. The "Business Analyst" would have much more business process modeling and requirements management type skills.
Having said that, the reality is there probably is great overlap between the two roles. Let's be honest - we are just talking about job titles and we all know that the responsibilities for the same job title vary greatly from organization to organization and project to project.
I love this phrase:
"It's not what you're called, it's what you do!"
- Adrian
While Adiran is dead on the money regarding job titles, there are probably some things you could call out as differences;
Where is the difference? It seems to be to be in bringing the expertise in from an external source.
In larger enterprises you often find the role (maybe not the job description) of internal consultant where other business units provide consultants to managers to help with problems.
Business analysts can often play the role of internal consutlant in this context, and in fact should be acting as internal consultants when managing requirements.
Many of the skills you would find are similar. Typically a BA might have more technical expertise and less financial expertise than a consultant, but that reflects the career development process of the role, rather than what the role requires.
Business process consulting is done by an expert who comes from outside the company and provides his services at per hour rates. He helps and advices on one or more areas of business such as marketing or operational inefficiencies. On the other hand, a Business analyst is normally an internal employee whose main job is to liaise between the company and technical firms, mainly with a view to developing computer systems in the organization.
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