Article 1: To BA or not to BA - Words from Business Analyst (or Consultant?)

This article series is dedicated to my profession of Business Analysis. Being a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), I feel it is my duty towards my profession to take it to the next level and help all the business analysts to perform their role better by sharing my knowledge. Following article is based on my own experience and thought process.

I feel many times business analyst’s role is undervalued and misunderstood in an organization. I would like to take this opportunity to dwell upon one of the most common debate across industries about difference between Business Consultant and Business Analyst (BA). 

Personally I feel that all Business Analysts are Business Consultants; however, all Business Consultants are not necessarily be Business Analysts…

Typically a Business Consultant is supposed to be functioning at Strategic level in organization, and needs to understand the bigger picture and business strategy. However one of the knowledge areas for business analysis is – ‘Enterprise Analysis’ which covers the understanding of business strategy and holistic thinking / systems thinking. Hence I think the closest analogy would be- the traditional Business Consultant role is most closely aligned with the business analyst working on ‘Enterprise Analysis’ knowledge area along with all the other knowledge areas. (Please refer the notes section to check the other knowledge are for a Business Analyst) 

Typical Business Analyst work in an IT (Information Technology) domain most of the times, but he needs to possess business / domain knowledge. The domain for a software solution can be horizontal or vertical. A horizontal domain is applicable across industries, like workflow automation. Vertical domains are specific to a particular industry, like telecommunications. This makes him a business analyst working as a consultant for providing IT solutions in vertical / horizontal business domain.

Business Consultants play more of an ‘Advisory’ role whereas the Business Analysts are playing a ‘Liaising’ role. Obviously consultants need to possess liaising skills and analyst should be able to show advisory skills to business. Hence they are nothing but two sides of the same coin.

Ideally all the business analysts are supposed to perform a role of a Business Consultant. They are the ones who should:

* stand up for business and tell implementation team (say, technology team) that this solution is right for business and we have to make it happen

* at the same time, he / she should also stand up for the implementation team and tell business 'vices and virtues' i.e. advantages and disadvantages of a particular implementation in objective way

It's a tricky balancing act a Business Analyst has to perform. If a business analyst doesn't perform the consultative role, he/she continues to be a documentation person. I feel that is one the major reasons why it is an undervalued role in organizations. Most of the BA's perform mediator's role, than playing a consultative role. 

I agree that in most of the cases, BA's projects involve technological implementation of strategy, however that does not limit oneself from playing a consultant role. Since it is much undervalued profession, organizations think he / she is just a bridge between business and IT teams – making a BA just a courier delivery person or a documentation fellow. But the real business value that can be delivered through business analysis is tremendous.

Based on my reading, research and experience, I have reached a conclusion that in reality there is a great overlap between these two roles in terms of performed functions and required knowledge. Whichever way you define a role (Business Consultant or Business Analyst); it’s a fact that the same job title vary greatly from organization to organization and project to project. The bottom line is –

It's not what you're CALLED, it's what you DO!

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Notes: 
About Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP):
The Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) designation is a professional certification and registered trademark from International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), for individuals with at least 7,500 hours of business analysis experience during the last 10 years. Qualified individuals are awarded the designation "Certified Business Analysis Professional" upon passing a three and half hour exam based on the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK).

About Business Analysis Knowledge Areas:
Business analysis knowledge areas which are outlined in the Business Analyst Body of Knowledge (BABOK) published by International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) are- 

* Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring

* Requirements Elicitation

* Requirements Management and Communication

* Enterprise Analysis

* Requirements Analysis

* Solution Assessment and Validation

About me: 
Being a business analyst for more than 09 years, I had to rise to play a consultative role. I was fortunate enough to get exposure to all knowledge areas of business analysis, onsite-offshore exposure and complete software development life-cycles (SDLC). I was involved at various stages of strategy formulation and execution. Implementing the same strategies through various initiatives ranging across People, Process, and Technology. I have also worked on IT strategy alignment initiatives, along with playing key role in change and knowledge management (e.g. trainings, mentoring, communications plans, and business hand-holding).