Are you looking to hire a business analyst but need to figure out how to do that? Well, sit back and relax. In today’s write-up, we will explain everything you need to learn before recruiting a business analyst, along with the methods of hiring the perfect BA for your organization to boost your business quickly.
What is a Business Analyst?
A business analyst is an expert who proceeds, interprets, and documents business products, processes, software, and services through data analysis. The primary role of a business analyst is to boost business efficiency through their knowledge of business functions and IT.
What Does a Business Analyst Do? Roles & Responsibilities
There are multiple business analyst roles and responsibilities, such as proper decision-making based on accurate and comprehensive data, finding insights that discover hidden opportunities and optimize business processes, and filling the gap between organization goals and informed decision-making.
A business analyst is accountable for translating business needs into clear and detailed functional specifications for teams and extracting, documenting, and analyzing business needs, workflows, and processes. Business analysts are also responsible for designing solutions, communicating with stakeholders, managing projects, and ensuring quality by conducting system testing.
Types of Business Analysts
There are four main types of business analysts, which are discussed below.
1. Pure Business Analysts
Business experts with a background in economics or business fall into the pure BA type. They need to improve their connections with the IT industry. They analyze a business’s competitors, build a robust enterprise business model, boost sales channels, and decrease employee turnover.
2. IT Business Analysts
This type of BA brings ideas to the table on how business processes and interviews business stakeholders that are involved and gather and study their requirements. They mostly have a background in technical writing or software engineering.
3. System Analysts
System experts convert business requirements into functional needs for building systems. They have background and knowledge in IT.
4. Requirements Engineer
Requirements programmers work with requirements made by system analysts, clarify them further, and collaborate with quality assurance and development teams.
Business Analyst vs Data Analyst: What’s the Difference
Although the terms data analyst and business analyst are used interchangeably, there are differences between their job roles.
The difference between a business analyst and a data analyst is that business analysts assess an organization’s current IT structures and functions, build visuals and financial models to enhance business decisions, and present recommendations and observations to key stakeholders.
On the other hand, a data analyst collaborates with stakeholders and business leaders to define a business need or problem, prepare data for analysis, present data in the form of a compelling story, and analyze data for trends and patterns.
Importance of a Business Analyst
A business expert is essential for identifying issues, finding solutions and presenting recommendations for business growth. Business analysts are also helpful for companies in reducing business risks, finding methods to reduce costs, and improving business value.
Why Hire a Business Analyst?
Companies should hire business analysts to find solutions to current or future issues and translate the requirements of business stakeholders into a language easily understood by the development team.
Benefits of Havings a Business Analyst
There are various benefits of business analyst, such as reducing cost by streamlining the supply chain process, saving time by automating manual projects, enhancing customer experience by optimizing the online checkout process and boosting quality by identifying and inspecting the bottlenecks in software creation, resulting in excellent quality software products.
Key Skills to Look Out for When Hiring Business Analysts
When hiring a business analyst, looking out for the following skills in the candidates will help you recruit the right talent for your organization.
Technical Skills
Business analysts technical skills, such as an understanding of probability and statistics, knowledge of programming and Excel, and experience in data visualization and financial planning, are essential. Additionally, experience in managing and analyzing databases and understanding SQL and SQL Server and domain are critical skills of a business expert. Other primary technical skills of business analysts are testing and debugging the system, technical writing ability and UML diagramming, along with Data Collection and analytical skills.
Communication Skills
Among all the skills, the ability to communicate effectively is most important because business experts need to provide strategies for business growth, and for this, sharing opinions and ideas with the team members in an ideal way is essential.
Critical Thinking
Business researchers must also think critically to match company expectations with their data analysis and find solutions to issues well.
Decision-Making Skills
Making business-appropriate, better and defensible decisions is essential for business experts to deliver satisfactory client results.
Problem-Solving Skills
Among the various skills required for business analysts is the ability to solve issues efficiently by finding the cause of the problem and outlining practical solutions.
Strategic Thinking
Thinking strategically helps business researchers to identify business solutions that are helpful for companies. Therefore, business analysts should be experts in strategic thinking.
Leadership Qualities
Quality leadership helps business analysts correctly lead the organization’s team while keeping the company’s goals in mind.
Adaptability
Business researchers should possess the adaptability to handle new projects quickly and adapt to the new environment of the company.
Building Strong Relationships
BAs should be experts in building strong relationships with stakeholders, team members and managers to play a central role in the project’s success.
Critical Analysis
Critical analysis helps BAs check quality control and also assists in completing projects according to stakeholders’ real needs.
Persuasion
Business analyst skills also include persuasion, as it helps boost productivity and influence other team members to perform well for project success.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring Business Analysts
The typical pitfalls to avoid when hiring business researchers are explained below.
1. Neglecting Soft Skills
Companies ignoring to pay more attention to soft skills in candidates during recruitment, results in missing better options for hiring.
2. Ignoring Industry Knowledge
Understanding and knowledge of the industry are vital for successful business analysis; therefore, neglecting industry knowledge in applicants leaves you with less skilled candidates.
3. Overemphasizing Technical Expertise
Exaggerating technical abilities in BAs is another familiar mistake companies should avoid because, along with technical skills, there are other vital factors, such as soft skills and background knowledge, which are also equally important.
4. Neglecting Adaptability
Adaptability helps business researchers work in new environments, so ignoring adaptability skills in candidates is a major mistake you should avoid while recruiting business experts for your organization.
5. Underestimating Documentation Skills
Documentation and certification are crucial proof of the business analyst’s abilities and expertise; therefore, you should not underestimate the documents.
How to Hire a Business Analyst: Choosing the Perfect Candidate
To hire a business analyst, follow these six steps to recruit the ideal candidate.
1. Assess Industry Experience
First of all, evaluate the experience of BAs in the field to get a clear idea of their understanding and knowledge of the industry.
2. Emphasize Effective Communication
Check which candidates can communicate effectively and can deliver their ideas and thoughts clearly.
3. Conduct Practical Tests
Once you filter the candidates in the first two steps, conduct practical tests to understand their ability to handle your project.
4. Seek Expert Input
Once you gather all the information about candidates’ knowledge, experience, and abilities, seek expert input to get valuable guidance that will prove helpful in finalizing candidates for your organization.
5. Evaluate Problem-Solving Skills
Assess the candidate’s ability to solve problems by asking questions and conducting a practical test,
6. Review Past Projects
Reviewing past projects of applicants will help you to understand their level of success in the past and gain a perception of their method of handling the projects.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Business Analyst?
The cost of hiring BAs varies widely and depends on factors like location, specific skills, level of expertise, and nature of employment. The cost to hire a mid-level business researcher in the US is $80,000-$90,000 annually. However, countries like Ukraine and Poland have much lower rates in Eastern Europe than the United States.
Best Models for Hiring Business Analysts
There are three best models for hiring a business analyst that are: In house, freelance, and outsourcing.
1. In-House
Overview
Hiring In-house BAs means they work from your company office and are closely integrated into your team.
Advantages
- Real-time meetings
- Complete control over the full-stack programmer work
Disadvantages
- Limited skills
- Costs more
2. Freelance
Overview
A freelance business analyst works on a project basis and is known as an independent contractor who works remotely.
Advantages
- Offer flexibility
- Cost-effective
Disadvantages
- Communication issues
- Lack of control
3. Outsourcing
Overview
Outsourcing is hiring a third-party team or agency to handle your organization’s business analysis projects.
Advantages
- Cost-effective
- Diverse skill set
Disadvantages
- Challenging to control quality
- Communication hurdles
Hire Offshore Business Analysts
Hiring offshore BAs offers you diverse benefits compared to hiring from the US or Canada because offshore business analysts handle your complete business at budget-friendly rates. Therefore, you get quality work at competitive rates and enjoy your business success.
Why Hire Business Analysts from Poland/Ukraine?
You may be wondering why you should hire business analysts from Ukraine or Poland. Let us answer this in detail.
1. Cost Efficiency
Business analysts from Poland and Ukraine are cost-effective as they charge you less compared to countries like Australia, Canada, and the US.
2. High-Quality Education
The level of education business researchers obtain in Poland and Ukraine is of high quality, enabling the analysts to perform efficiently using the right tools and skills.
3. Multilingual Skills
Hiring BAs from these East European countries also makes communication easy for you as they are skilled in multiple languages, including English.
4. Tech Savvy
Business analysts from Ukraine and Poland are also proficient in using modern technology, which makes it easy for them to rank your business.
5. Cultural Compatibility
The offshore business analyst also understands the value of cultural compatibility and thus easily fits into your company and boosts productivity.
Let RemoDevs Help You Hire Business Analysts
Demand for business analysts is rising as more businesses want to strengthen their processes. To help you hire business analysts who align with your project and needs, RemoDevs is here!
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Founder and Chief Executive Officer at RemoDevs