Why a Business Analyst Should Lead Your Digital Transformation
As the business sector continues to grow, it has propelled the need to invest in digital transformation to secure the future of businesses. Many organizations have adopted this new normal, with about 46% of small companies acquiring business intelligence tools to aid in the process.
Besides, business analysts, also known as BA, have dived into the transformation process aiding business owners in facilitating the process. There is a need for business analysts to equip themselves with the necessary skills to enhance digital transformation in the current business world. They need to learn and master a unique strategic business-oriented approach to work effectively.
Also, business analyst needs to showcase robust leadership skills and equip themselves as reliable business advisors who profoundly understand the business industry’s ins and outs. A BA should facilitate great collaboration between the business stakeholders and their team members to make the digital transformation successful.
Importance of Digital Transformation
The need for digital transformation has steadily grown the level of knocking on the doors of the entire business ecosystem. Currently, business managers are experiencing challenges since they see their brands lagging. On the other side, all the other business stakeholders can experience their roles being transformed and even replaced.
This is mainly triggered by the fact that there is a new era prevailing within the business industry which needs to impress as soon as possible. Those business leaders who adapt to the digital transformation as soon as possible tend to attain significant growth compared to those brands that seem reluctant.
If your business does not adopt digital transformation, it will automatically lag in development and competition. Digital transformation can aid in increasing a company’s market share and capabilities. The world economy is undergoing a massive shift that disrupts the entire business ecosystem.
As the speed of digital transformation continues to speed up, certain businesses won’t be viable since the market won’t be favorable in the long run. Due to the dire need for digital transformation, business analysts have the responsibility to aid in integrating and improving the new business technologies to create a better environment that facilitates business activities.
However, most business owners fail to understand why they need business analysts to take part in leading the digital transformation process. Let’s look at some of the fundamental reasons that you need to know.
- A Business Analyst Facilitates Great Stakeholder Collaboration
Stakeholder collaboration within a business setting is a crucial element that works as a game-changer. When you talk of digital transformation, it makes you believe that technology is the sole focus of the entire business transformation. However, the truth is that digital transformation only shares the limelight within the business industry.
Business stakeholders play a huge role in facilitating business operations and making it easier for the business to adopt the new method of doing things. A business analyst propels stakeholder collaboration which saves the company a lot of time and money. As a business owner, you must have heard of digital transformation failure.
This mainly happens in circumstances whereby the transformation was facilitated without the leadership of a business analyst. The failure to enhance stakeholder collaboration makes other team members feel unwanted within the business environment. The BA takes the responsibility to visualize whose sounds need to be heard by the business.
The best way to get a solution to enhance collaboration is to ask probing questions when attending, a business stakeholder meeting. At this point, the real business users will automatically come to the fore, thus creating a collaborative business platform where everybody is heard, and their concerns are solved.
When you come up with the appropriate strategy to use, the business stakeholders can easily adopt the new solution in the town. Note that digital transformation cannot occur in a business environment where there is a lack of agile collaboration.
- A BA Enhances Alignment by Creating a Better Digital Strategy Road Map
Digital transformation comes with its complexities that you need to acquire the best way possible to sustain them. Most of the complexities are derived from the business data, which tells the entire business story. Business analysts use data visualization charts (line chart, bar chart, slope chart, radar chart and Google Sheets) to break down complex data values into simple ideas that they can easily utilize.
Among the challenges of digital transformation, think about cross-functional communication and enhancing collaboration between the staff members. All these matters make the digital transformation journey seem incredibly complex. A business analyst is equipped with the knowledge to navigate across this environment and create a better road map.
The road map entails describing the business goals and a systematic strategy on how every goal can be achieved. Also, the BA takes time to ensure that all the team members are aware of the business goals and objectives so that everybody within the company is working on a similar page.
The business goals are meant to measure the strides and milestones made by the business and offer guidance in the future. Also, the business needs to have a big picture reflecting on the business status if the transformation is carried out successfully. Even though the big picture usually attracts numerous opinions, it is vital to ensure that everything is aligned with the business objectives.
- Setting a Digital Transformation Timeline and Keeping All the Projects on Track
Setting the transformation timeline and tracking the projects is not a simple task that everybody can execute. The business analyst ensures that all the team members know the deadlines and the required deliverables. Note that the given timeline cannot be frantically rushed as many people do.
Every organization needs to implement digital transformation using a thoroughly prepared step-by-step guide to make the process successful. If the transformation is not time-sensitive, the business analyst uses a lot of the available time to collect feedback from the stakeholder and get results from the testing phase before the entire transformation.
The business analyst chooses the project management time frame that suits the transformation that needs to be executed. The final output needs to be highly accurate and complete, which can be used to propel the business towards achieving its goals in the industry. The BA needs to do proper testing with prospects to ensure that everything is working in an orderly manner.
- Maintaining Focus on Delivering the Business Value
Since the business industry is highly involving, business analysts also focus on ensuring that they are delivering value to the business. Also, they need to work as advisors to the organizations that need to adapt to the new business environment. A business analyst needs to have a detailed understanding of customers and competitors within the line of innovation.
To work in accordance with the business industry’s complexities, analysts possess excellent data visualization skills that enable them to generate insights from the data values and use them in tailoring data-driven decisions. The tools they use help reduce errors and mistakes in the final output, thus enhancing accuracy.
Business analysts use specialized tools that are essential in mitigating risk avoid the possibilities of human errors when executing digital transformation plans. Some of the tools used in data visualization include Microsoft Excel, which aids in generating insights from raw data.
In Conclusion
According to research, the implementation of AI-assisted processes improves productivity by 52%. Digital transformation incorporates the use of AI tools which makes it easier to elevate the productivity rate and create a better brand within the market. However, you don’t need to neglect the importance of acquiring a business analyst to help you lead the digital transformation process.
