Business Analysts are the force behind the new-age enterprise which practices data-driven decision-making and problem-solving. At its core, the role of a Business Analyst is to bridge the gap between the IT and business verticals of an organization. They use data analytics to determine business requirements, assess the processes, and deliver recommendations and reports to concerned stakeholders. This blog will help you learn more about the skill set required, the roles and responsibilities, and also the salary offered to a business analyst based on different factors such as work experience, job location, and more.
- Role of a Business analyst
- Business Analyst Job Description
- Skill sets required to become a Business Analyst
- Business Analyst Salary trends
- A day in the life of a Business Analyst
- How to Become a Business Analyst?
The Role of a Business Analyst
Ideally, Business Analysts engage with business leaders to understand how data-driven decisions would improve efficiency. These changes could be applied to processes, products and services, software, and hardware to add value. Finally, they execute ideas that are both technologically and financially feasible.
Responsibility Areas of a Business Analyst
- Business Analysis Planning: identifying problems, opportunities, and solutions
- Budgeting and Forecasting
- Financial Modelling
- Variance Analysis
- Risk Analysis
- Reporting to concerned stakeholders
Business Analyst Job Description
Business Analysts mostly report to the project managers. The key tasks include requirements analysis, implementing and documenting processes, and performing user-acceptance testing. A natural analytical tendency and the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical users are a key to success for Business Analysts.
Business Analyst Roles and Responsibilitie s
- To evaluate business processes and anticipate requirements/ problems
- Assessing the areas of improvement and implementing solutions
- Review ongoing business processes and devise optimisation strategies
- Stay abreast with the latest process developments and IT advancements
- Automate and modernise existing systems
- Documenting and Reporting results of the efforts
- Communicating plans and insights to the management and other teams
- Working closely with clients, IT department, and managerial staff
- Gathering information from various stakeholders to produce useful reports
- Testing user acceptance
- Providing training and guidance
- Maintaining resource allocation and cost-efficiency
- Project management and performance monitoring
- Process updation and implementation
- Prioritising initiatives based on business requirement and impact
- Act as a liaison between stakeholders and users
- Timely completion of projects and deliverables
Business Analyst Requirements
- A bachelor’s degree in business or an MBA
- Analytical and conceptual mindset
- A minimum ‘x’ years of experience in analytics or related field (‘x’ depends on the organisation, and the position you are applying for)
- Excellent reporting and documentation skills
- Advanced technical skills with knowledge of required tools
- Excellent planning and organisational skills
- Excellent time management skills
- Experience in forming and leading top-performing teams
- Having delivered successful projects in the past
- Competent with Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Skill sets Required to become a Business Analyst
- Good Communication and Presentation Skills
- Interpersonal skills and team management
- An analytical mindset
- Good knowledge of analytics tools and techniques
- Time management skills
- Documentation and reporting efficiency
- Data modelling and data management skills
Apart from these also read more about What Are Some of the Tools Used by Business Analysts? and Big Data Analytics Skills To Boost Your Salary
Business Analyst Salary Overview
Similar to any other job role, the salary of a Business Analyst would depend on a number of factors such as company size, reputation, location, work experience, and educational qualification. Companies such as TCS, Amazon, Accenture, or Deloitte pay higher salaries. The more your work experience is, the higher will be your market value. Keep in mind that due to these variables, there is a chance of a change in the salary.
Average Salary of a Business Analyst in the India and US:
The average salary of a Business analyst in India is around ₹612,656 per year. The average salary of a Business analyst in the US is around $70,489 per year.
| India | US | |
| Average salary per annum | ₹612,656 | $70,489 |
If you wish to learn more about the salary trends as a Business Analyst over the next 5-10 years and compare your salary to your peers, check out Salary Builder and gain powerful insights.
Business Analyst Salary: Based on Experience
| India | US | |
| Entry Level | ₹363,813 | $60,055 |
| Mid Career | ₹848,120 | $77,401 |
| Experienced | ₹1,284,643 | $90,431 |
Depending on your years of experience, the average Business Analyst salary may range between 3,50,000-5,00,000. The lower end is the salary at an entry-level with less than one year of work experience, and the higher end is the salary for those having 1-4 years of work experience.
As your experience increases over time, the salary you earn increases as well. A Business Analyst with 5-9 years of industry experience can earn up to Rs. 8 lakhs per annum. Whereas a Senior Business Analyst with up to 15 years experience earns close to Rs. 12 lakhs per annum.
Salary of a Business Analyst: Based on Company(India)
Let us consider TCS, Accenture, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Capgemini as some of the top companies which offer the highest salary packages for Business Analysts.
| Company Name | Salary in INR |
| Accenture | 7,04,965 |
| Capgemini | 7,03,178 |
| TCS | 696,132 |
HCL, Wipro, and CSC are at the lower end of the salary scale and provide a similar package.
| Company Name | Salary in INR |
| HCL | 5,21,246 |
| Wipro | 5,79,188 |
| CSC | 6,02,432 |
Companies such as Amazon are also a really great place to work, the average salary ranging from between INR 3,28,484- 17,83,171 depending on your experience level and seniority.
Also Read: Top 10 Business Analytics Companies in India to work for
Salary of a Business Analyst: Based on Company(US)
Business analyst Salary in the US, based on the company:
| Company | Salary Per Annum |
| Cisco Systems | $1,05,938 |
| Accenture | $1,06,304 |
| IBM | $95,216 |
The above companies are some of the top companies which offer higher salary packages for Business Analysts in the US.
| Company | Salary Per Annum |
| Deloitte | $83,287 |
| Cognizant | $71,842 |
| Infosys | $70,420 |
The above companies are some of the companies that are at the lower end of the salary scale and provide a similar package.
Business Analyst Salary: Based on Location
Business analyst salary in India, based on the Location:
The location you are situated in plays a significant role when it comes to compensation. A Business Analyst in Bangalore or Pune would earn around 12.9% and 17.7% more than the national average. Hyderabad (4.2% less), Noida (8.2% less), Chennai (5.2% less).
Business analyst salary in the US, based on the Location:
| Location | Salary Per Annum |
| Houston, TX | $97,901 |
| New York, NY | $88,534 |
| Washington, DC | $84,790 |
| Chicago, IL | $81,393 |
| Dallas, TX | $74,088 |
A day in the Life of a Business Analyst
A typical day in the life of a Business Analyst might have different tasks based on many factors such as the phase of the project they are working on. Also, some days are more research-focused, some days include a lot of meetings and interactions, and some simply go implementing and executing the changes in processes, products, etc.
Activities that define a working day for a Business Analyst
- Scanning through e-mails and prioritise tasks for the day
- Replying to the emails and business queries
- Engage in a daily ‘heads-up’ session to understand concerns, issues, and impending tasks of the team
- Conduct meeting with stakeholders to gather business requirements, and provide solutions to previously identified business problems
- Evaluating issues, measuring the viability of proposed solutions, and develop applicable solutions
- Sending minutes of the meetings to all stakeholders
- Meet with the IT teams to clarify the process flows
- Perform documentation and share with relevant stakeholders
- Maintain test reports to publish findings
- Meet the functional managers to discuss their demands and present solutions
- Acceptance testing and compliance monitoring
- Before leaving the office, organising a review meeting with team members to support implementation and actualise results of the project
Business Analysts usually perform most of these tasks on a daily basis.
How to Become a Business Analyst?
To become a business analyst the basic educational qualification is graduation, and a post-graduation is an added advantage. Professionals who have strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, interpersonal, and team management skills are the ones who should absolutely consider a career as a Business Analyst. The technical skills vary based on the employer and the industry, the basic computer skills that a Business Analyst should have are C#, .Net, Oracle, PL/SQL, and MS Office. Below are the three steps to becoming a Business Analyst:
- Get a graduate/ bachelor’s degree – A bachelor’s degree in business administration and management is highly sought after for entry-level roles in business analytics. Specialised courses in accounting, management, or marketing can help aspirants prepare for an analytics career in their field of interest.
- Gain some work experience – If applying for entry-level roles, seek internship opportunities in top organisations. The candidates who have experience in fields such as Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management, information technology etc., can also apply for entry-level roles in Business Analytics.
- Get Business Analytics Certification – Getting a Business Analytics certification deems a professional to be an expert Business Analyst. Also, some companies prefer certification in Business Analytics when hiring for Business Analyst positions. Great Learning’s Business Analytics courses are ranked #1 by Analytics India Magazine. If you want to pursue a career as a Business Analyst, sign up for the PG program in Data Science and Business Analytics.
Business Analyst FAQs
Business Analysts are paid well since they are in high-demand. An entry-level analyst may earn anywhere between ₹350,000 p.a. to ₹400,000. And someone with 5-10 years of experience may earn close to ₹900,000 p.a, while individuals with over 10 ears experience may earn ₹1,500,000 p.a.
Yes. Business analyst is a good career as it offers several job opportunities, strong salary options, job satisfaction, and a work-life balance. The possibilities are endless and business analysts will always be in-demand.
Business analytics provides flexible work options and is one of the less stressful jobs when compared to high-demand finance jobs. However, this depends on the industry, the sector, where you are in your career journey, and several other such factors.
Yes, business analyst is an IT job as business analysts have knowledge about information technology as well as business. Enhancing the quality of IT services while also understanding business needs are among the major responsibilities.
Being able to write code is not a requirement to start your business analytics career. Although it can be quite helpful to know coding. Having knowledge of statistical software such as SAS, SPSS, Mathematica, Sage, or even Excel can be helpful for analyzing and managing data.
To become a business analyst, you will need the following skills:
– Analytical Thinking skills
– Business Management skills
– Attention to detail
– Organizational skills
– Interpersonal skills
– Written and Oral communication skills
– Critical thinking skills
