The concept arose in the 1980's, when IT change projects started to go wrong. The function was part of the business operation and worked with IT to improve the quality of products and services being delivered by IT. Without business analysis, projects go wrong or are not completed on time, money is lost and solutions are misaligned to the original objectives, if they are delivered at all. Business analysts need to work with both IT and operations personnel to align IT deliverables to business requirements thus improving the quality of the outcome.
With the aim of reducing waste through documenting the right requirements; creating the right solutions; improving efficiency and completing IT projects on time; business analysis ensures that the right decisions are made and the best fit for the business requirements is ultimately implemented, thus managing expectations and reducing capital losses.
There are many choices to be made at each stage of an IT change project and with choice comes the risk of going for the wrong option. It is usually during these stages that organisations come to appreciate the value of having provided the right information to their business analysts at the start, which allows them to make the correct choices.
Business analysts will analyse IT change project requirements before implementing the change. The process involves taking information gathered from a variety of sources and analyzing it for forecasting future IT trends, finding ways to improve business strategies, improving businesses operations and making smart business decisions to improve the company's bottom line.
Some managers and executives, uninformed about the value of business analysis, neglect it, choosing rather to follow their intuition about what is required - a move that has contributed to an average 30% success rate in the delivery of IT projects.
It is however important to note that although the function of business analysis is critical, it does need to be effectively managed in order to get the most out of it. One of the risks that organisations face with business analysts is related to analysis being used within the same environment for too long, which results in them not being able to offer the organisation a fresh outlook and perspective. The most effective way to deal with this is to identify the right analysts for the right functions and ensure a constant and pre-arranged rotation scheme, thus keeping them motivated.
