10 Predictions for Business Analysts in 2014
Skill Sets for Business Analysts and Systems Analysts Will Become Interchangeable
More and more, they’ll perform the same functions, and this means the systems staff will need better soft skills to effectively come up with requirements, and the business side will have to develop improved technical capabilities.
Agile Will Emerge as a Competency, Not a Methodology
Agile works wonders in getting the right requirements in quantity, quality and representation. However, business analysts will have to learn that agile is about culture as opposed to “checklists/templates” methods.
The Roles of Business Analyst and Project Manager Will Overlap for SMBs.
With resources scarce, SMBs will direct analysts to gather requirements and put them into production.
Early and Often Will Rule the Day
Business analysts will be asked to join projects in the beginning to “take the journey” with teams and provide constant context.
Requirements Management Will Grow in Sophistication
Huge, monolithic business-requirements document bad. (Too expensive, time consuming and inflexible.) Interactive, collaborative documents good. (Easier access, better traceability, scalability and quality control.)
Career Paths Open Up
Because they are valued for their knowledge and business contributions, analysts will move on to lofty positions such as enterprise analyst and enterprise architect.
Project Sponsors Catch the BA Bug
Sponsors, decision-makers and execs will take business-analytics courses to lend greater awareness, insight and support.
Business Analysts Become the Big Man on Campus
The need to get requirements right the first time for mobile, big data and security transforms the business analyst into the BMOC.
Enterprise Architecture Comes Back to Life
Many highly paid enterprise architects were downsized during the last recession. Today’s organizations will acknowledge this was short-sighted in light of big data challenges, and bring them back.
Cloudy Days Ahead
The increasing presence of enterprise-cloud initiatives will drive demand for pros who can crunch requirements analysis for native cloud apps
