Why Does Your Project Need a Business Analyst?

A business analyst (BA) is a specialist who analyzes a product owner's problem, looks for a solution and draws up its concept in the form of requirements that developers will be guided by when creating a product. In fact, this specialist acts as a link between the product owner and developers. However, should you hire business analysts for your project? Let's figure it out.

Who Is Business Analyst? Main Responsibilities 

Before you hire a business analyst, you should figure out what responsibilities they have. Indeed, when answering a question like: “Why be a business analyst?”, anyone has to consider the scope of tasks of this job position.

Pre-sale stage

At this stage, hiring a business analyst helps businesses to evaluate the capabilities of the project from the side of the product owner. In particular, clear concepts of what problems of the target audience the product should solve are defined and formalized. The BA also documents the current state of the project and identifies opportunities for its optimization and achievement of new goals. Finally, this expert determines the needs of the stakeholders.

Discovery stage

When answering the question: “Why do you want to be a business analyst?” you also should consider their responsibilities within the discovery phase. In particular, at this stage, the business analyst evaluates the scope of the project and determines the direction for its development. This usually takes the form of drawing up a solution concept diagram, which should explain how to solve specific problems, both on the side of the stakeholders and the side of the target audience.

This is followed by brainstorming between all stakeholders, the development team, and invited industry experts. After that, the BA documents all the collected information.

Pre-development stage

And finally, as part of the pre-development stage, the hiring analyst will help you to convey the context of the project to the development team and correctly present previously received insights. The BA is also responsible for providing team support for the successful launch of the project, as well as getting the maximum possible business value from your project even on the early stage of creating products or launching a startup.

What Are the Deliverables of a Business Analyst?

To find out how much business analysts make, let's take a closer look at the specific results they should provide to the project owner.

Creating a detailed business analysis

First, when you hire an analyst, you expect to receive a detailed business analysis before the project moves to the development stage. Thus, you get the opportunity to assess all the risks associated with the implementation of your business idea and protect yourself from losses. 

Budgeting and forecasting

When you collaborate with recruitment agencies for business analysts, you also get an opportunity to receive justified and supported by analytical data forecasts related to the development of the project. You also get an estimate of the scope of work associated with its implementation, which means you can find out its approximate budget.

Variance analysis

Partnership with a business analyst staffing agency will help you to conduct variance analysis to evaluate each factor influencing your product while controlling for fixed values of the remaining factors.

Pricing

Also, business analysis recruitment agencies can help you to formulate adequate pricing for your product, which is supported by an analysis of competitor solutions and the overall solvency of your target audience.

Defining business requirements 

When you ask: “What does a business analyst do day to day?”, you also should not forget that this specialist forms an accurate list of business requirements for the product to make it easier to convey them to the development team who will be directly involved in its implementation.

Reporting business requirements to stakeholders

And finally, a corporate business analyst has to report business requirements to the stakeholders of the project. This way, this expert forms a kind of bridge between them and the development team, simplifying and formalizing communication.
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Do You Need a BA or Not?

How do you know if you need to open a business analyst position for your project, or is it optional?

You do not need a business analyst if you, as a product owner, are well-versed in the technical aspects of developing your future project, and can communicate with the development team in their language.

However, if you feel that you are not competent enough in this, it would be better if you entrust this duty to a specially trained expert. Otherwise, you will expose yourself and your team to the risk of misunderstandings, which will result in costly reworks, a shift in the project launch date, an increase in its budget, and other troubles.

Final Thoughts

If you are considering hiring a business analyst or business analyst company, we hope that now you know what benefits you can expect from such an arrangement. If you would like to learn more about our business analyst services or to discuss the specifics of your project or startup, please do not hesitate to contact us.