The business world is changing rapidly and your business needs to change with the change or it will not survive in this competitive world. With a large number of businesses, the changing environment and the competitive businesses force the industry to hire experts in every domain.
With an increased demand, business intelligence and business analytics consulting has grown into a full-fledged industry with a large number of consultants. However, with a huge demand and greater rewards, there are a lot of incompetent personnel, who claim to be business analysts, but cannot help you with your business.
The business analyst helps you with compliance, quality assurance, certifications, governance and almost every business process. A business analyst analyses and refines each and every existing business process and asks you to introduce new ones to improve the performance of your business. They do not force you to throw away the existing models and processes. They transform them in a very articulated manner such that no one feels the change.
Here are a few qualities of a great business analyst that you should look into before hiring an analyst for your firm.
Strategic Thought Process
Even in the first few discussions which are always there prior to hiring, an analyst reflects a strategic and well thought outlook of the whole business model. They not only talk about transforming, they talk about how they will optimize the whole business without any major expenditure using strategic changes.
Excellent Communication and People Skills
You can judge these in a few meetings, communication and people skills are always there in good business analysts. They always are impressive and know how to manipulate the thought process of other people. So, if you are not influenced, they are not the right people.
Experienced Learners
Yes, they are experienced but are open to learn at the same time. A mature business analyst knows that one cannot know every aspect of every business. So, they are open to learn while using their vast experience.
Track Record
A top class business analyst is always backed by his performance with a large number of existing or previous clients and they never hesitate to share the contacts of a few. So, when you ask for a client list they are happily ready to share.
Vertical Specialization
Hire an analyst that has experience in your vertical, even if they have a large number of clients or projects in other verticals, there should be at least one project in your vertical. A prior knowledge is necessary for business analyst. An analyst will have less number of projects, but more projects in your vertical are better than others.
Leadership Skills
An analyst needs to lead the change. They need to direct people, so it is necessary for them to have inherent leadership skills. If an analyst lacks in leadership, he will not be able to take evasive steps for a problem that he foresees.
You should look for an analyst with these qualities. A business analyst is a key component for every successful business, so hire them wisely.
