Unlocking the World of Business Analysis: A Guide to Pursuing a Career as a Business Analyst

If Gold was the most important material in a medieval generation, it was overtaken by Oil in the last 50 years. Now as we are entering a digital world, it is clear that data is replacing oil. It is said that people with the right data will be the most powerful person. Remember how the government is trying to protect your data. How does every app on your phone ask permission to your use personal data? Data can help solve many challenges for businesses, governments, NGOs, scientists, etc. If you love to play with business data, if bars, graphs and charts help you understand a business problem, maybe a business analyst is a career for you.

A Business or Data Analyst is an expert who uses statistical and mathematical tools to solve business problems by analyzing data. As an analyst, you will organize the business data, and identify tools that can be sued. You will use relevant tools to solve the data and extract useful knowledge. You will present this knowledge and information in an easy format that can be understood by others.

Why become a Business Analyst (BA)?

A Business Analyst (BA) is an expert who analyses an organization and its business domains and documents its business model while integrating it with technology. Business Analyst helps a business by improving its processes, products, services etc. through data analysis.

As a Business Analyst, you will analyze business problems and then resolve it using technology. You may be working in different business sectors like Finance, Banking, Telecom, Social Media, Insurance, Marketing, Public Services, etc. As a Business Analyst, you will be involved in:

Business Development: You will identify the organizations’ needs and business opportunities

Business Model Analysis: You will define the policies of the organization and market approaches

Process Design: You will standardize the processes of the organization

System Analysis: You will interpret the business rules and the requirements for technical systems to improve the Business tech.

As a Business analyst, you will be mostly working on one of the above. You will work with the Information Technology team.

What does a Business Analyst (BA) do?

As a Business Analyst, you will have different roles and responsibilities based on your profile. Following is the list of a few roles and responsibilities across profiles:

• You will analyze market strategies of competition through analysis of their products, market share, market trends, etc.
• You will understand and interpret current business intelligence or trends and use them to recommend actions.
• You will communicate with customers, competitors, suppliers, professional organizations, or others to keep yourself abreast of all trends in the market.
• You will manage the timely flow of business intelligence information to users. 
• You will collect business intelligence data from different sources like industry reports, media interviews, public information, field reports, and paid research.
• You will produce a project definition/project initiation document clearly defining the scope and project objective on which you will be working.
• You will be presenting your solutions and recommendations to stakeholders.

How to become a Business Analyst (BA) – eligibility criteria

To become a Business Analyst, you can study for an undergraduate degree in the following fields or in any other related fields:

• Computer Science & Engineering or any other field in Engineering
• Data Science & Engineering
• Information Science & Engineering
• Information Technology
• Business Administration
• Business Analytics and Business Intelligence
• Business Information Systems
• Business System Management
• Computer Applications
• Information Technology Management
• Computer Science
• Data Analytics
• Data Sciences
• Mathematics and Computer Science
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Statistics and Computer Science
• Applied Mathematics
• Computational Mathematics
• Financial Mathematics
• Mathematics
• Operations Research
• Applied Statistics
• Industrial Statistics
• Mathematical Statistics
• Statistics

After your graduation you may opt to do a postgraduate degree or diploma in any one of the following fields or in any related field:

• Data Analytics
• Data Sciences
• Data Science & Engineering
• Business Analytics and Business Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Computer Science & Engineering
• Information Science & Engineering
• Information Technology
• Applied Statistics
• Business Statistics

It could be a good idea to obtain a certificate in SAS Business Analytics and Business Intelligence software / SAP HANA / IBM SPSS / Similar Business Analytics and Business Intelligence tools along with a certificate in Hadoop / Spark or similar big data analytics tools. Also, you may obtain a certificate in Python/ SQL/ UML/ Microsoft Visio/ similar tools.

Educational fees

The cost of pursuing a degree in Business Analytics in India can vary from INR 5 lakhs to INR 20 lakhs, depending on the institute and course duration.

Job Opportunities

• If you are inclined toward the analysis of the data, then you may be hired as a Business Analyst / Data Analyst / Research Analyst / Management Trainee in different consulting firms as well as MNCs. Some of the leading consulting firms are Accenture, Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, McKinsey, PwC, etc.
• If you are inclined towards the business side of analytics where you use the results for strategies, you might be hired as Business Analyst Trainee by different MNCs, Media Houses, and Retail and finance organizations.

Salary of Business Analyst (BA)

• At the entry level, as a Business Analyst, you will be earning anything between Rs. 20,000 to 2,00,000 per month. As a Market Research Associate, you will be earning anything between Rs. 20,000 to 1,00,000 per month. As a Business Analyst Trainee, you will be earning anything between Rs. 25,000 to 3,00,000 per month.
• At the junior level after 2-6 years of experience, you will be earning anywhere between Rs 30,000 – 4,00,000 per month.
• At the middle level of 6-12 years of work experience, your earning will rise to Rs 50,000-6,00,000 per month.
• At the senior level after 12 years of work experience, your earning will be between Rs. 1,00,000 to 10,00,000 per month.

Career Progression in this profession

If you start your career as a Data Analyst / Research Analyst / Management Trainee, you can then become, Business Analyst or Financial Analyst. Later you can become Lead Business Analyst and then senior Business Analyst, and finally Analytics Manager. If you were a Financial analyst, then you can become a Senior Financial Analyst and then Finance Manager.

If you start your career as a Business Analyst Trainee, you may soon become a Business Analyst and then Senior Business Analyst. You may then become Lead Business Analysts and then Management Consultant.

What does industry trends say – future prospects

According to a report by Analytics India Magazine, the Indian Market Research, and Data Analytics industry is worth USD 2.71 billion currently. At the same time, it is projected to grow at 33% per annum. With the current rate, it is estimated that by 2025, the Data Analytics industry will be USD 20 Billion in India. This is almost 8 times the current market size. Around 45% of the market is related to the export of Research services to the USA, and this market is growing at a rate of 45% per annum. With such high staggering growth in the market, it is clear that not only India but even the International market is using Indian Market research services. Another industry hiring Market Researchers is Consulting firms Even the consulting industry in India is growing at a rate of 9% per annum (according to Statista). Thus, overall, the market has a very high future prospect for a Business Analyst/ Data Analyst. Presently the growth is substantially high in core Data Analysis companies and Consulting companies.

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