If a business is to not just survive but thrive in today’s competitive and difficult economy, then they must find a way to be different from everybody else. The only way to really achieve that is to be committed to innovation across the board. Innovation is something that everybody needs to be involved with, and that requires a strategic vision that is incorporated into corporate culture. Leaders and managers are responsible for facilitation the necessary conditions that allow for internal participation and to embrace change. One way to prepare a company for this is through business analysis, a key area of focus for Abhishek Gattani.
What Is Business Analysis (BA)?
Essentially, BA is a type of investigation into how a business operates, with the goal of gaining a greater understanding of every element of the functioning of that business. This includes is goals and objectives, its people and performance, and its processes. Usually, BA professionals like Gattani are brought in when a company wants to implement innovation software, ensuring that there is an understanding of what is needed.
BA is similar to financial analysis but has a broader perspective. It incorporates quality assurance, project management, testing, organizational development, documentation development, and training. If a business wants to improve its processes, it must first fully understand how every element within the enterprise itself works. They must know what its strengths are that are currently leading to success, but also what its weaknesses are. Furthermore, they must be able to anticipate future challenges and they must review their strategic vision to determine it is appropriate for today’s market.
A Stepped Approach
People like Gattani have developed a number of best practices, most of which has been incorporated into the BABOK, which is the Business Analysis Book of Knowledge. This is a project started by the International Institute of Business Analysis, who have collected the experience of thousands of analysts the world over. In so doing, they have been able to create a stepped approach to business analysis, which starts with developing a basic, grassroot understanding of the enterprise. The final phase is the development, implementation, and validation of the proposed solutions to determine if the enterprise does indeed become more efficient. The exact steps are:
- To understand the enterprise.
- To analyze the competition.
- To analyze the market.
- To defined what the scope and objectives of the project are.
- To determine what the requirements are.
- To gather documentation.
- To communicate proposals and requirements.
- To design an appropriate solution.
- To test the solution and implement it.
A good BA project is incredibly challenging. Professionals like Gattani spend a lot of time modeling, innovating, performing systemic thinking, and communicating, often on very touchy subjects. After all, nobody wants to be told they are wrong, and most people are quite resistant to change. Since BA is not a defined science, it can be difficult to convince people of the righteousness of your ideas. However, when these ideas are embraced, the positive benefits can be tremendous.