Career Forums

Working remotely as a BA is definitely a challenge.  There are many activities that are just easier to do in person.  I worked with teams that were stretched across the U.S. for many years and common tasks such as requirements elicitation, mapping out process flows, eliciting information for logical data diagram, etc., can all be done much more efficiently in person as a team gathered in front of a white board.  With that said, you can make it work.  But there will be struggles.

A few key items to keep in mind:

1. You will be doing a LOT of screen sharing, so your organization and team all need to have the necessary software and a standard should be agreed upon.
2. You and your team should think about your computer screen sizes.  Larger is better when doing a lot of remote work and screen sharing.
3. Your team will need to be supportive of this.  There is a psychological element. If some of your team members don't work remotely as a rule then they will notice the feeling of inefficiency when they have to do more work via lengthy conference calls and screen sharing.  
4. Be sure to use the time you DO have with your team in person as efficiently as you can.  Plan ahead of time the face to face meetings you will have, which deliverables you will be reviewing, what stakeholders you will be meeting with, etc.

It's a challenge, but we live in a world of increasingly distributed teams.  It can be done, but the entire team must be on board.

Regarding negotiating for salary or benefits, while your company may be keen for you to take this role are there others who they would also consider?  Is this an opportunity for you in terms of career advancement.  Remember not everything is about dollars.  If this is a career opportunity, the dollars will follow.  None of this means you can't ask for a bump in pay but you should have a reason for it. Link it to greater responsibility. Avoid linking it to "I don't really want to travel, so pay me more". That doesn't come off well.