1.
What Does Business Analysis Mean?
Increasing efficiency and managing resources correctly in the business world is the foundation of sustainable success. Business analysis, which comes into play at this point, analyzes the gap between the organization's current state and the targeted state, clarifying business requirements and solution proposals; thus, it offers a solid roadmap for technology investments and process improvements. In this article, we address the topics of what is business analysis, why it is important, and how it contributes to businesses in full detail.
Business analysis is the process of systematically examining and documenting stakeholders' expectations, organizational goals, and process bottlenecks. In other words, it is the answer to the question "What is the business's need, and which process, software, or strategy should be deployed to meet this need?" With business analysis, the aim is to answer all questions regarding the business in question by using the information or data collected about it. Business analysis generally includes topics such as gathering business requirements, creating process maps, stakeholder analysis, determining functional and non-functional requirements, and modeling solution proposals.
2.
Why Should Business Analysis Be Conducted?
Business analysis forms a critical foundation, especially in corporate structures. Thanks to business analysis, inefficiencies can be detected, and improvement and optimization plans can be commissioned. Business analysis is extremely important for all businesses open to positive changes and improvement processes. With the business analysis method, it becomes possible to increase organizational efficiency, digitize business processes, reduce project failure risks, determine the right technology investments, lower costs, and ensure operational excellence.
3.
Business Analysis Examples
Business analysis can be exemplified in many different departments from marketing to finance, and from human resources to sales. For instance, let's say a marketing department manager in a company realizes there is inefficiency in the current team structure before entering a new digital campaign period. Let's assume campaigns are delayed, responsibilities overlap, and performance measurement cannot be done clearly. To identify the source of this problem, the marketing team can deploy business analysis methods. For this, it is necessary to reveal the daily and weekly tasks carried out in the marketing team, the tools used while performing these tasks, the most time-consuming duties, and in which areas role ambiguity is experienced. Subsequently, tasks in the marketing department can be mapped on a channel-based and process-based basis. As a result of business analysis, for example; manually conducted content planning and production processes can be automated, bottlenecks in ad management and reporting processes can be eliminated, approval mechanisms can be accelerated by moving them to digital workflows, and data-driven decision-making processes can be improved. In this scenario, which could be one of the business analysis examples, by applying business analysis methods, the campaign duration is shortened, intra-team communication is strengthened, performance measurement becomes more transparent, and the marketing budget is utilized more efficiently. Meet GlassHouse professional services now!
4.
Methods and Techniques Used in Business Analysis
Defining tasks and competencies alone is not sufficient in the business analysis process. Different analysis and evaluation techniques are also utilized in decision-making, prioritization, and problem-solving stages. The most widely used business analysis techniques can be listed as follows:
- SWOT Analysis: Reveals the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a business, project, or process.
- Brainstorming: A method that encourages creative and free idea generation regarding a problem.
- MoSCoW Analysis: Ensures the prioritization of requirements and tasks.
- PESTLE Analysis: Analyzes factors affecting the external environment of the business.
- MOST Analysis: An analysis method used to evaluate the alignment of an organization or project with strategic goals.
- Use Case Analysis: Defines the interaction between the user and the system step by step for a process.
- Pareto Analysis: Assumes that a large portion of problems stems from a small number of causes.
- GAP Analysis: Identifies the gap between the current state and the targeted state.
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