Business analysis and the underlying competency- decision making

As business environments changed, so did the business practices. Owing to immense competition in all businesses, analysis of data, documentation, market conditions have become essential for any business to survive and thrive. Not only large organizations, even small and medium sized enterprises have departments, each responsible for their own work for the organization. Though each department has their own share of duties and responsibilities, the efforts of all are not disjointed but aimed for the growth of the organization.

The earlier business environments, in which size and volume of businesses were small, business decisions, were many times made by fluke. The traditional family businesses and the practices were passed from one generation to the other, without much thought on analysis of past performance, competitors, or any other such data.

For any organization, small or large, one of the key to successful running of an organization is decision making. If decisions of any type are taken at the right time in the right manner, it leads to considerable saving of time and money. It can be also interpreted as analysis or specifically business analysis of a problem in a timely manner. Individuals who are responsible for doing the research for business needs, and finding solution to the problems are business analysts.

Depending on the size of the organization, business analysis may be an important functional department for an organization. Individuals who work in this functional area need to find the problem areas in an organization which could be; changes in systems development component, process improvement, organizational change, strategic planning and also policy development. In doing so, i.e., business analysis decision making is the underlying action which happens.

Individuals, who work in business analysis, perform their job and also help others in individual department analyze business problems. This helps in analyzes of problems at micro level and also faster solution and decision making for any problem. Business analysis is also about prioritizing, and handling problems first which require attention first, work which yields maximum impact to customers should be handled in that order.

Business analysis is a crucial task, as it is a liaison among various stake holders, department within an organization to work in cohesion to achieve organizational goals. It is the process of thorough analysis of functioning of an organization, and to understand the capabilities which are required to provide products and services to the market. Business analysis is an extensive process which includes; defining goals of the organization, to determine how the goals are connected to meet specific objectives, chalking the course of action to meet organizational objectives, and to define ways in which various stakeholders within and outside the organization should interact.

Individuals who perform function of business analysis are Business Analyst, they need to gather and analyze information provided by all the people who interact with the business. This could include stakeholders, customers, IT professionals, staff and executives. Business Analyst for any organization needs to bring forth the actual needs of stakeholders, and not all the desires which are expressed by them. Information Technology has facilitated the work of business analysts, to work as a “mediator” in aligning the needs of the various business units.

Business analysis and decision making process complement each other. Business analysis for problems and solutions for an organization, need to be complemented by effective decision making. Decision making is the process of selecting the best logical choice from the available options. Decision making is an important aspect of management, which weighs all the pros and cons of each option, and also the outcome of the option in future.

Author Bio:

International School of Business and Management (ISB&M) is one of the best PGDM and MBA colleges in India, which also provides courses in engineering, media management and more.