Business Analyst, as you all know, is a demanding career. Although, like any other job, the Business Analyst role is not without its challenges. As a crucial role in the organization, Business Analysts have many responsibilities along with that they have to face many challenges as part of their day-to-day work. One mistake in the final product, the entire blame might go on BA. That is why BAs are frequently under pressure to create solutions that satisfy business needs. Therefore, knowing what challenges you might face and how to overcome them, makes you a successful Business Analyst. With a Business Analyst training course, you can develop your skills and help in your organization’s growth. To give you a brief overview of the top challenges faced by a Business Analyst, we are here with this blog. Continue reading.
Table of content
- Collaboration and Communication
- Demands that Change Often
- Lack of Technical Expertise
- Conflict Resolution
- Documentation Issues
Collaboration and Communication
People who are already working in the Business Analysis industry might be aware that it is one of the roles that strongly relies on communication and teamwork. A Business Analyst’s work may appear to be a solitary one, but it is actually a collaborative effort. Business Analysts should bridge the gap between the teams and make them work together productively. If you are good at communicating, then you will definitely rule this industry. However, It might be difficult otherwise. Continuous communication with various team members and stakeholders, clients, and trying to make all the teams agree on your point, is definitely a hard task.
Moreover, This task will get even more complicated when you work from home. Due to these unexpected pandemic situations, companies had to shift the way they work. They started adopting work-from-home tools and technologies and trying to work smart. However, this affects a Business Analyst. In a project, the developer does his developing part, the tester does his testing part and the rest of the team will do their assigned task. But Business Analysts had to interact with all these team members and they should monitor their progress frequently. For such a process, communicating with various teams online will definitely be a tedious task. At last, Collaborating and communicating will be very challenging tasks a Business Analyst might face.
Demands that Change Often
For a project, the Business Analysts should be able to fulfill the requirements of the stakeholders and clients. But what if they change the requirements often?! This will raise conflicts in the delivery time and quality of the product. Not all stakeholders, but few might change the demands frequently. In such situations, as a BA, you need to analyze the possible outcomes of their requirements. If you can implement their requirements, what changes you need to make and how much time you need for that task, you must analyze all these things and negotiate the same with the teams. However, if you cannot meet the requirements, then you should be able to convince the stakeholders with a proper reason. So, my point is the continuously changing demands from the stakeholders, and making alterations accordingly consumes so much time, and managing all these tasks will be burdensome for Business Analysts.
Lack of Technical Expertise
Business Analysts have to work on various IT projects that require knowledge of the latest trends and technologies in the IT industry. In order to guide the technical teams, BA should have knowledge of software or technical tools used in the project. But most of the business analysts are from non-tech fields. So, for them, understanding various tools and technologies might be a huge challenge. Even if a BA is from a technical background, knowing the latest trends and keeping heads up on upcoming technologies might be hard at times. Moreover, if a BA has all the technical expertise but lacks business knowledge, this leads to the unproductivity of the work. Hence, Being a business analyst requires both technical expertise and business acumen. We must agree that acquiring knowledge in completely different fields is always a difficult task.
Documentation Issues
Like many other tasks, the role of the Business Analyst includes documentation as well. Obtaining the necessary data, on the other hand, is one of the most difficult tasks a Business Analyst must undertake. It gets further complicated when stakeholders will not offer the precise information needed for thorough documentation, which might be useful at project phases. Several adjustments may be made during the life of the project. The necessity for accurate documentation will become increasingly important as the number of alterations in a project increases. The business analysts should make the documentation properly including all changes or requirements asked by the stakeholders. But the stakeholders do not give the right information. Hence, that makes this situation a challenge for a BA.
Conflict Resolution
A Business Analyst’s day-to-day tasks are fraught with complexities. They will face challenges at each stage of the project. Arranging the tools required for the project, planning the project, making the schedule, allocating resources, understanding the stakeholder requirements, continuously evaluating the project, documentation, and many more tasks are involved in a project that a BA needs to handle. In each of these phases, BA might face various challenges. But a successful business analyst will analyze the conflict and resolve it adequately.