Overview
It goes without doubt that an organization must continuously keep a close look at market changes, evolving customer demands, its internal dynamics while being profitable. It needs to regularly evaluate its business goals and develop strategies to accomplish those goals to stay relevant and ahead of the competition. The success of an organization depends on its ability to formulate the right strategic goals that align with its overall vision and its ability to convert the strategic goals & plans into the right portfolio of programs and projects.
Senior business analysts who have wealth of business acumen and technological knowledge are fast emerging as key individuals in an organization by contributing towards strategic planning and execution. In collaboration with key management folks, business analyst can help provide valuable information to the executive leadership team to take decisions on organization’s future vision, strategic goals to realize the vision, change initiatives (implemented through the right portfolio of programs and projects) to meet the goals and organization’s capabilities that will enable the accomplishment of change initiatives.
The executive leadership team cannot enable an organization to become strategically driven all by itself. It needs up-to-date information pertaining to the internal and external environment in which the organization operates, processes, tools & technologies and lot of other details to effectively carry out strategic planning. The business analyst provides this critical information that becomes a valuable input to the strategic planning process. In addition, business analyst, with support from key stakeholders, provides details on processes, tools & technologies during strategic planning discussions.
Some of the key activities that a business analyst may perform during strategic planning and decision making include:
- Conduct research and provide outcome
- Establish strategic goals
- Select change initiatives
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Conduct research and provide outcome
With the aim of providing the most appropriate direction in terms of strategic goals, a business analyst conducts research on several aspects. The business analyst may conduct a thorough analysis of current state of an organization, its business processes, organizational capabilities, tools & technologies in use. In addition, a business analyst may conduct research around current state of industry and critical market opportunities & threats. The business analyst may also conduct detailed research to determine state of an organization in comparison to the competition or a benchmark study of market standard processes and practices. The detailed outcome of these studies or research assist leadership team in formulating the right strategic goals for the organization.
Establish strategic goals
A business Analyst may also be involved in establishing strategic goals based on the research outcomes or directions from leadership teams. Since a business analyst has a grasp of key information required to devise strategies, executive leadership team is keen to involve them in devising strategic goals. They provide key insights in terms of anticipated business value, alignment with vision, mission & other strategic goals, existing capabilities and various other aspects thereby enabling leadership team to make calculated decisions in establishment of strategic goals.
Select Change Initiatives
Once strategic goals are established by the executive leadership team with assistance from the business analyst, the next step is to select the right change initiative(s) with the right priority to accomplish the strategic goals. The change initiatives are carried out through a portfolio of programs and projects that may include developing a new software system, re-engineering an existing process, establishing new business units etc. The business analyst can provide assistance in understanding the high-level business requirements, cost benefit analysis and other key elements to be able to choose the change initiatives to be taken up and in the right sequence of priority.
Conclusion
In many organizations, business analysts are not directly or indirectly participating in strategic planning, but this trend is changing with time. Senior/Lead business analysts are now invited to play critical roles in strategic planning discussions and hence their valuable knowledge is now enabling organizations to earn rich dividends. In case you wish to play a pivotal role in strategic planning activities in your organization and gain higher visibility and better career prospects, it is important to understand some key concepts and techniques. Techcanvass provides a CBAP certification course that empowers a business analyst with key strategy analysis know-how. This course also prepares a business analyst for the coveted CBAP certification which, if attained, demonstrates that the business analyst has required skills and knowledge to play strategic roles.
