I suspect many people reading this article will, at some time in their career, have had the challenge of explaining what business analysis is. We’ve all had that dreaded moment when we meet someone for the first time, explain we’re a Business Analyst, and we’re met with a blank stare (often with a slight look of confusion… ‘Business…what?’). I am sure that we have all developed our own elevator pitch to explain the value that good business analysis enables.
In the dim and distant past, it was common to hear people use the ‘bridging’ analogy of analysis. Perhaps you’ve heard (or even used this) yourself. There are many variations, but one that is commonly used is:
“Business analysis is the bridge between the business and IT”
Whilst this statement has its uses—it is certainly very succinct and conveys at least some of what good business analysis can achieve—in reality it describes only part of the BA role. And there is a danger that this analogy may be setting misconceptions.
The Trouble With The BA Bridge
To explore the trouble with the ‘bridging’ concept, let’s take an example outside of analysis. Imagine you saw an advertisement for a private doctor’s surgery. The advert has an authoritative looking doctor smiling, and a number to call to make appointments. Beneath the telephone number, there is a strapline:
“Doctor J. Jones: The bridge between the patient and the pharmacy”
Now, I don’t know about you, but if I was visiting a doctor I’d want to know that she could provide a range of treatment options, perhaps being able to refer the patient to a whole range of different medical specialists. Of course prescribing medication (from the pharmacy) might be appropriate in some cases. Yet in others the patient might need surgery, further diagnosis or scans, blood tests or even just advice on their lifestyle. Something in the patient’s environment might have changed which is causing problems. Perhaps a new job is causing stress, which is causing a lack of sleep, which is causing exhaustion and tiredness, leading to comfort eating and weight gain. Only by taking a holistic view of the patient will the problem get solved.
By limiting themselves to being the bridge between the patient and pharmacy, the doctor has inadvertently placed themselves in a restrictive box. Even if they actually offer a wider range of treatment options, they will likely always be viewed as the “Pharmacy Doctor”. The place where you go when you want a prescription.
Getting Out Of Our Own Box
I’m sure many of us will have occasionally felt like business analysis has its own ‘box’. Stakeholders occasionally perceive us as ‘something to do with IT’ and ‘only needed when there’s IT change’. The ‘IT to business bridge’ analogy reinforces this box. Every time it is uttered we build another layer of misunderstanding about the breadth of the BA role.
The reality, of course is that business analysis is extremely broad and holistic. Whilst some BA practitioners may focus on specific niches, the breadth of the discipline provides a varied and interesting career. Business Analysis can involve anything from understanding the external environmental factors that are affecting a business, to helping defining (or aligning to) strategy, conducting pre-project problem analysis, defining change projects and programmes, defining requirements, assessing benefits and so much more. Where we do recommend or help implement solutions it is quite likely there will be an IT element—but equally there will be business processes that need to change, organisational structures, training and staffing and there could even be location or other infrastructure considerations. Business analysis and business change spans multiple dimensions—and whilst IT is crucial and essential—in order to be effective it must fit and align with the other elements of the business.
Breaking down silos
Another crucial consideration is that the bridging analogy may, inadvertently, re-inforce an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality. It divides business from IT. Now, of course, there may be some situations where organisations are that separate and compartmentalised, particularly if there is an external vendor/outsourced IT partner involved. Yet in many other circumstances organisations may be actively looking to break down silos between teams. When IT is the engine of growth of a business, the lines may blur whether we intend them to or not. Perhaps business stakeholders are co-located and working with IT developers. The need for a pure ‘bridging’ role is reduced—yet the discipline of business analysis is still crucial. We still need to be ensuring that the change or project is aligned to strategy, that the requirements are clear and agreed and are within scope, and that they are on-track and are ‘on-benefit’. We need someone to help the sponsor pick which project to undertake in the first place, and somebody that assesses the knock on impact of changes to other elements of the business. All of these things fall within the broader discipline of business analysis, yet all of these things are above and beyond a bridge.
Conclusion: Knowing our value
As a profession, business analysis has a wide breadth and we have a whole range of tools at our disposal. Yet, we often face the challenge of misunderstanding – where stakeholders haven’t worked with BAs before (or haven’t yet appreciated the breadth).We can help enable so much value in organisations—and having our ‘elevator pitch’ ready (and getting beyond the bridge) is crucial. Thinking and talking beyond the bridge is essential.
Footnote: Readers interested in a more formal definition of business analysis may find the following references useful:
IIBA (2015). A guide to the Business analysis body of knowledge (BABOK guide) v3. Toronto: International Institute of Business Analysis.
Paul, D., Cadle, J., Yeates, D. (eds) (2014). Business Analysis: Third Edition. Swindon: BCS Learning & Development.
Further details about each can be found on the BA Reading List page
Do you have an ‘elevator’ pitch for business analysis – I’d love to hear it. Please add a comment below, and keep the conversation flowing!
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About the author:
Adrian Reed is Principal Consultant at Blackmetric Business Solutions, an organisation that offers Business Analysis consulting and training solutions. Adrian is a keen advocate of the analysis profession, and is constantly looking for ways of promoting the value that good analysis can bring.
To find out more about the training and consulting services offered at Blackmetric, please visit www.blackmetric.com
The perception that a BA is there to support the implementation of IT is something that blights the BA profession. As a professionally qualified BA (IIBA & BCS) with 6 Sigma Black Belt, I concentrate on business process design and improvement in human to human processes which may or may not be supported by automation e.g. workflow.
Processes are in a relationship with people, technology and culture. A professional BA understands these areas sufficiently well to take a holistic view of the impact of any proposed change or improvement. It’s not just an IT issue!
Brian, I completely agree. The wider view is so important — which is advocated by BABOK v3 and BCS’ ‘Business Analysis’ Book. IT Requirements Engineering is important, but it is only part of the picture. The IT system sits into a process (or set of processes), which itself sits in a bigger ‘business system’… and that system lives in a much bigger ecosystem of regulators, customers, competitors and so
Thanks for the comment!
You very well highlighted the areas where a BA can contribute. I believe that BA is most abused term in IT industry as everyone want to be a BA (thinking it to be glamorous position). I believe that analyst can be categorized in various form like System Analyst, Data Analyst, Research Analyst, Financial Analyst as these help one align properly to the actual role one is playing.
Yes, definitely agree, I’ve used the bridge analogy but it’s very limiting. I’ve also used a tunneling analogy where you start drilling at both ends and hope to meet in the middle 🙂
I prefer to describe the potential BA role as a spectrum running from almost business consultant at one end to systems engineer at the other with all manner of different roles in between depending upon your skillset and the needs of the project you’re working on.
Yes I can really relate to this article. There are so many misconceptions. Thanks for summarising it so well. It’s great that the stakeholders do often get it once working with them but there seems to still be so many organisations where business analysis is still new to the company or haven’t used it to it’s full potential. I must admit I have used the bridge analogy myself just because it takes so long to explain every area otherwise. I have found that the business stakeholders are won over quicker once they understand how process modelling can help them understand their business processes, problem areas and improvements too.