Hire a Business Analyst

An IT business analyst works on both the business and the product development sides. Such specialists understand the pain and needs of the client like no one else.

According to the US Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for remote business analysts will grow 14% through 2028. Let’s explore the skills of the business analyst, the need for specialized education, as well as what responsibilities a business analyst has in IT companies.

Business Analysts: Who They Are, What They Do

A business analyst is a specialist between the business and the development team. They identify requirements for a future product or system functionality and translate them into a language that software engineers can understand.

What do business analysts do? The list of specialist tasks includes the following ones:

• Stakeholder engagement and management of business analysis processes.

• Working with stakeholders (clients, partners, end users, and development team). The specialist determines client needs and the priority of the task as well as prioritizes incoming requests based on their importance for the client’s business.

• Requirements analysis. The specialist analyzes the requirements, needs, ideas, and problems of stakeholders in projects to obtain maximum information about the clients and the specifics of their tasks, clarify deadlines, and assess risks.

• Working with the product backlog. A backlog is an ordered list of everything a team needs to work on, most often labeled as “fixes” or “improvements”. It is described simply, clearly, and in the user’s language, without complex technical specifications. Items in the backlog are grouped based on their weight to the business. The bigger it is, the faster the element goes into development.

• Business process analysis. BA identifies their strengths and weaknesses and makes recommendations for improvement.

• Current technical processes documentation. Business analysts shouldn’t be afraid of words such as “user stories” and “user guides”. They also take part in requirements validation.

• Business process modeling. The work of a business analyst involves the development of business process models that help optimize work.

Mykola Kliestov

CTO and co-founder at ITExpert

“If you have an idea and want to implement it in your product, or if you are going through a digital transformation and need to write technical specifications in detail — an IT business analyst will help a lot. Years of practice have shown that without a Business Analyst, the result does not satisfy either the client or the developers in most cases.”

Key Business Analyst Skills to Pay Attention to

For an effective career as a business analyst in an IT company, a specialist should have the following knowledge and skills:

• knowledge of the software life cycle;
• understanding of programming and testing basics;
• experience working with IT documentation;
• strong skills in identifying client requirements;
• advanced problem-solving, analysis, and decision-making skills;
• the ability to express thoughts structurally, involve stakeholders in conversation, and ask the right questions.

Moreover, for successful work and career, Business Analyst should acquire:

• Ability to work with business process models and various types of diagrams such as ER models, state diagrams, sequence diagrams, and others.

• Understanding of architecture and fundamentals of software design, database management systems, and software testing.

• Ability to create mockups/wireframes and proficiency in working with tools to visualize solution concepts.

• Fluency in English (Upper-Intermediate and above).

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How to Hire a Business Analyst

There are several ways to find a skilled specialist:

1. Post your vacancy on specialized job sites for IT specialists. Highlight the required skills and work experience to attract candidates who meet your requirements. 

2. Look for candidates at specialized conferences, forums, and events such as IT Weekend, GDG DevFest, different meetups, and so on. 

3. Contact your colleagues for recommendations. People working in the same field may know other professionals. Therefore, they can help you find a candidate who meets your requirements.

4. Contact IT recruiting agencies. Their specialists will help you find candidates with the necessary skills and work experience quickly.

Mykola Kliestov

CTO and co-founder at ITExpert

“It is important to understand that business digitalization has been (and continues to be) done in various areas, it isn’t limited to the IT sector alone. Accordingly, you may encounter a large number of candidates who were involved in business analytics, say, in banking. This gives employers an additional challenge such as determining how relevant the candidate’s previous experience is for your company, and how long it will take for the specialist to adapt. An IT recruiting agency helps to effectively filter candidates’ CVs.”

Hire an Experienced Business Analyst with ITExpert

Talented and experienced professionals are valuable to businesses. However, they are very difficult to hire. The lengthy selection and screening process is costly for employers, and each mistake during hiring can cost the success of the entire project. ITExpert simplifies company recruitment as well as advises each client on possible risks and opportunities to optimize recruitment processes.

Our IT recruiting agency specialists have been hiring tech/non-tech IT specialists for companies in Ukraine and all over the world since 2015, from the USA to Israel. Our clients include Sony, Deloitte, and Depositphotos.

Hire a business analyst with ITExpert to make the most of available data and find the untapped potential of your business!