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The global project-focused training company, ESI International, announced the release of its top 10 trends in business analysis for 2015.

This year’s trends discuss the importance of the business analyst (BA) within the organisation. They highlight the significant role of the BA, as companies work to bridge the gap between strategy and execution, and they emphasise the importance of the BA function in managing organisational change.

“In an environment of shifting markets and increasing volatility, it becomes very difficult for organisations to keep projects aligned with an ever-changing business strategy,” said Raed S. Haddad, Managing Director for Asia Pacific, ESI International. “There is a growing opportunity for BAs to play an important role in not only validating project deliverables, but also validating that those deliverables maintain alignment with core business objectives.”

ESI’s top 10 trends for business analysis include:

  1. Between a cloud and a hard place: BAs will need to identify, communicate and manage gaps between business expectations and the realities of cloud-based solutions
  2. The strategic BA: BAs will begin to assist in maintaining alignment between business objectives and the projects through which they are achieved
  3. The hybrid BA: Agile and waterfall methods increasingly co-exist creating the need for BAs to work in a hybrid, fluid environment
  4. Managers will ignore BAs at their own peril: BAs will continue to be ignored and not get the coaching and mentoring they desperately want
  5. The BA change agent: BAs will deliver business value by understanding how project outcomes translate to business change, and ensuring that project requirements incorporate change management components
  6. Run!: Business analysts continue to shy away from conflict and avoid difficult conversations, at their peril
  7. International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) does well: IIBA continues to grow and shape the industry
  8. EA connects the dots: Enterprise analysis will continue to grow as a discipline and take a bigger role in ensuring strategic execution
  9. Culture shock: BAs will better understand organisational culture and its impact on requirements and project success
  10. Predictive analytics is the future, we predict: Understanding predictive analytics will be a differentiator for the enterprising BA

“Business analysts are very well situated in 2015,” said Haddad. “Many organisations are facing large-scale transitions and savvy BAs, who understand their value in the strategic execution chain, will have a much bigger seat at the table.”

Source: ESI International