Toward Excellence in Business Analysis: A Strategic Imperative for Modern Organizations

 In today's hypercompetitive global marketplace, organizations across all sectors are recognizing business analysis as a critical differentiator between market leadership and obsolescence, As the digital transformation era has accelerated this realization, with 78% of executives in a 2023 McKinsey survey identifying business process optimization as their top operational priority.

Organizations are becoming increasingly conscious of the importance of their integral management processes. This is due to the intense competition in a global market where only the best leading companies in different industries can survive in the long term.‎1

The term Business analysis represent all roles that are responsible for performing business analysis activities a cross industries or within organization to meet business requirements which represented in reasons or opportunities that answer business requirements, 

Business Process Analysis - Short History, Michael Hammer (1990) – article in Harvard Business Review: “the major challenge for managers is to obliterate non-value adding work, rather than using technology for automating it”, Similar ideas advocated by Thomas Davenport and J. Short (1990). By 1993, as many as 65% of the Fortune 500 companies claimed to either have initiated reengineering efforts, or to have plans to do so.  Trend fueled by the fast adoption of business professional analysist by the consulting industry and by the study Made in America, conducted by MIT, that showed how companies in many US industries had lagged behind their foreign counterparts in terms of competitiveness, time-to-market, conducted by MIT, that showed how companies in many US industries had lagged behind their foreign counterparts in terms of competitiveness, time-to-market and productivity.

Business requirements are used to provide a context and direction for any business solution addressed by the business analysis, such directions are accompanied by different business activities to reach its main objective which is maximizing stockholders’ wealth by generating future cash flows or increase their assets value by time.

Business analysis 4-step plan: 

Identify The Process 

The first step is to choose the ‘as-is’ process to be analyzed and identify the shareholders who handle it. Be sure to have a clear starting and stopping point for the process. 

Collect Process Information 

Next, gather as much information about the process as possible to understand the issues it faces, the objectives, the scope of improvement, and other goals of the analysis. 

 Analyze “As-Is” Process

Implement a business process analysis plan. Get to the bottom of the identified process, define the process in flowcharts and other diagrams, and measure its effectiveness. 

Develop “To-Be” Plan 

It is better to know that A process is not equal to procedures as process consists of functions, activities and tasks your organization must perform to fulfill its mission. What are you in the business of doing?  While procedure refers to documented instructions used by your personnel to perform the actions required to operate your business processes. How do I do it?

This takes us to the business analysis solution (product) that might be one or more solution, these deliverables can take many forms, including reports, models, plans, and recommendations. They provide tangible evidence of the value created by the business analysis process and serve as a basis for decision-making and action.

business analysis, deliverables serve as both the compass and the yardstick - guiding implementation while measuring success. The most impactful deliverables consistently demonstrate three fundamental characteristics:

Actionable – Clear implementation guidance that answers what and why questions

Measurable – Quantified success metrics that objectively demonstrate value creation.

Stakeholder-Aligned – Addresses diverse user needs of all impacted parties through tailored communication.

The importance of deliverables cannot be overstated but provide a clear and measurable way to assess the effectiveness of business analysis activities and ensure that the solutions developed align with the needs and expectations of stakeholders.

For each industry there are hundreds of business analysis techniques that are tailored for each solution according to the industry, business size , product life cycle and the market macro and micro economic conditions, some techniques are commonly used by discipline  with in the organizations, or some might be used for the same product life cycle but in different organizations.

That’s why we use deliverables as Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for successful business analysis technique where the term deliverables is a broader meaning for all objectives and goals requirements from any successful business analysis activity.

It's important to note that KPIs for business analysis assessments can vary based on the organization, the specific goals of the analysis, and the nature of the projects being undertaken. Business analysts should consider a comprehensive set of KPIs to accurately measure the success and impact of their work.

As the business environment grows increasingly volatile, the organizations that will thrive are those that institutionalize business analysis as a core competency rather than treating it as a periodic initiative. The future belongs to the analytically mature - those who can transform operational data into strategic insight, and strategic insight into market leadership.

The question isn’t whether your organization can afford to invest in business analysis—it’s whether you can afford not to 

1.(PDF) The Evolution of Business Process Management: A Bibliometric Analysis. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350148761_The_Evolution_of_Business_Process_Management_A_Bibliometric_Analysis [accessed Apr 01 2025].