Ok so let's say you've got a business idea what you want to start a shop that
sells pajamas to turtles. What's the first thing you're gonna do? Buy whole bunch of
turtles and fabric right? No.
You need a business plan, a business model, a whole bunch of processes and
systems just to make sure the whole thing run smoothly and who's going to
help you with all this stuff? A business analyst. So let's go find one now to see
if i can make millions of turtle pajamas. Got a pretty good feeling about this one.
A business analyst is someone that looks at how a new or existing business works.
They look at its structures, its model, design processes and systems in order to
achieve the goal the company are after. Now I've got a few business ideas so
today we're chatting to Cora Stapleton BA manager at BT financial group to see
if she can help me out.
Hi Cora. Hi Jesse.
Look I got a couple of questions about being a business analyst. Alright
let's have a seat and have a chat about it.
Okay Jesse so what would you like to know?
Well what exactly is a business analyst? Okay the business analyst is somebody
that actually has the business do their business better. They understand the
business and then from that they're able to actually help the business to take
advantage of opportunities or solve some of the business problems that are
facing that business. And so is that one kind of business analyst for all
businesses or are there different kinds? Ok so there are some generic business analysis
skills that can cut across all all facets of our business analysis. At times
you get somebody who will specialize in technology and so they will do business
systems analysis, other times you have people that are really close to the
operational business and so they're doing business process and analysis. Cool,
and so why did you become a business analyst? Well I enjoy working with people and i
enjoy problem solving and that really kind of comes together for you know in
business analysis where you have both the analytical side of problem-solving
coupled with actually you know working with people and understanding kind of
people what drives them you know what's important to them. Cool, and so what's the
hardest part of the job?
It's where things get de-prioritized that are important to people, where they had
an expectation that something's going to happen and the funding runs ou or we
can't do it or we're downsizing an organization and it's got an impact on
people's lives.
Ok so let's say I want to start a business and I come to you, what's the
first thing you do? Well I try to understand your drivers like what are
you trying to achieve with that business, what what service or product are you trying to
offer to people so we'll start off with understanding that and then
understanding what is it going to take for you to actually get this business
set up, where going to get funding from and then what are you expecting to make
from it.
Well now I think it's time for the edge you ready? Yeah. Okay so what
characteristics does someone need to be a business analyst? Ok they need to
have very strong problem-solving skills because that's basically what they do is
the problem solving, but they also do need to have that engagement with people
to be able to get information from people and to be able to put that
together and bring it back to people so that they can clearly understand what
they're gonna get. So good at crosswords? Yeah yeah yeah. Okay and so if you could
list from school to today to get to where you are
what steps to take? Ok well starting in high school I would say and getting
involved with developing your English that will actually be really good for
communication that you need to have to interact with people and then build
up that analytical capabilities and then moving on from there to actually do a
degree in the IT type of qualification or psychology and then beyond that
getting work experience like understanding kind of working within a
business. And if you could end up where you are today but have done one thing
differently what would that have been?
I probably would have connected in with the professional body earlier than
I have, I really only connected in within the last 4 or 5 years in into the
professional body but if i had had that available to me and had been aware
of that earlier i think I would have been able to progress my career a lot
quicker.
Well thanks so much for chatting to us today Cora, it's been very educational.
I'll let you get back to work. Thank you Well if you're creative, a people person and
interested in business then maybe business analyst is the career for you
and remember whatever stage reading your career you can visit the Career Center
website for investigation, exploration and planning your next step. Ah, I forgot to
ask about the turtle pajamas!