What would the start of 2012 be without a tradition I’m pleased to continue to uphold: the unveiling of this year’s top 10 business analysis trends. This year business analysts (BAs) will need not only the balanced portfolio of technical and business skills they have been perfecting, but also a more comprehensive perspective in order to meet the challenging business environment of 2012. BAs will need to broaden their linear thinking and adopt a three-dimensional approach to provide effective requirements management and development (RMD) that drives real business impact. With a 3-D mindset BAs will be able to better manage the dynamics of their profession and the organizations in which they work as well as maneuver challenges and leverage opportunities that will build their career paths.
Many of the trends identified this year have been ongoing for several years and they continue to evolve along with the practice of business analysis.
Demand for greater organizational efficiency will increase demand for business architecture, business rules and business process experts
Unrelenting economic and financial pressures perpetuate this trend from 2011 as organizations are finally starting to focus on becoming leaner and more efficient. The ubiquitous mantra of “do more with less”, and questions such as “how do we become more agile-like?” have taken hold. Economic woes have essentially changed the organizational mindset so that people are myopically focused on the business side rather than the IT side and realizing that creating business efficiencies doesn’t necessarily mean more technology.
In five years we are likely to see technology mature to meet new business demands, but not until organizations have money to spend on technological infrastructure. So, this year organizations will again rely on business analysis to examine business architecture, rules and processes that will enable internal improvements in efficiencies.
Federal, state and local government agencies will invest seriously in the role of business analysis
After having spent billions of dollars on contract management and project management to fix their troubles, government agencies have finally seen the light that poor articulation of requirements is at the root of many of their functional ills. Taxpayers demanding “more bang for their buck” will have all levels of government seeking better RMD to fulfill their missions. Calls for agencies to be more efficient in serving the public, more collaborative working across agencies and more accountable for ensuring that procurements are delivering what they are supposed to will make business analysis indispensible to their success.
It’s important to note that this will be a slow moving trend, much like the way the pace of government moves. Still in its infancy, the trend is first starting to pick up at the state and local government levels where they are rallying the troops around business analysis to articulate requirements so they can adopt them correctly.
Agile methods will continue to gain traction
Having appeared on the top 10 BA trends of 2011, agile adoption shows no signs of letting up and is again among this year’s top 10 trends. With higher project success rates than traditional IT development methods (67 percent for Agile vs. 50 percent for traditional development according to results from Scott Ambler’s 2011 IT Project Success Survey posted at http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/), Agile will continue to be the leading framework on which to base quality deliverables in 2012.
But it won’t be without growing pains. BAs and project managers will struggle to fit their title into the Agile space, but will need to realize quickly that it is not about them—it’s about the end state.
Emergence of a hybrid role of project manager and business analyst
The drive to create greater organizational efficiencies will spur the global emergence of a project role that mixes the project manager and the business analyst. Lack of resources is a key driver of this trend since many organizations cannot afford the luxury of having a utopian team in which project management and business analysis are conducted by separate individuals—why not get two roles filled for the price of one salary?
Another factor in this trend is the inability of organizations to foster collaboration among its project teams. If you can’t all just get along, get one person. The widespread adoption of Agile practices will further drive this trend. Agile’s all-hands-on-deck approach has little use for titled positions.
This trend will not come without risks, however. An imbalance on either the business analysis or project management side could result, depending on the background of the practitioner.
Business analysts will enhance skills to make their business case to stakeholders
Far too many talented BAs have been missing the mark in their interactions with stakeholders and it’s time they polished their delivery in order to effectively manage expectations. In 2012, BAs will need to step up their game, not only in presentation and communication skills, but they will also have to be proactive in articulating the value of the projects they propose in order to make effective business cases to stakeholders.
BAs are traditionally known for being good at collecting data, but also for being less than scintillating at presenting it. Optimally, BAs should take on almost a leadership role that will force them to increase their level of interaction as well as the level of people with whom they interact to really sell the benefits of the product—and the contribution of business analysis—to the organization.
BAs will need to measure results to prove results
This trend continues in 2012 as BAs will be under enormous pressure to quantify their work, and it will continue to be an issue for BAs each year. Undoubtedly, this is a trend that has to grow. Unless BAs apply their skills in elicitation and requirements management—graphical modeling, cost estimates, risk analysis and other measurements—they and, ultimately, the organization will not be able to quantify the BA’s impact on the business.
Centers of excellence will continue to spread
The resurgence of business analysis centers of excellence predicted for 2011 is continuing to proliferate in 2012 as organizations look to a centralized and focused group of specialized individuals to manage very complex enterprise-wide engagements. The driving force behind this is the focus on business architecture and resulting needs that are much bigger than many organizations anticipated initially.
In our practice at ESI, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of interest, client requests, articles, white papers and other activity around growing centers of excellence in the last year, and it shows no signs of letting up.
BPOs to invest in the development of their business analysis practices
Business process organizations (BPOs) in India are investing heavily in building business analysis capabilities in response to their clients’ deficiencies in the field. It’s a win-win for BPOs and their customers since the process of selling bundled software development, project management and business analysis services as an entire package improves project outcomes and mitigates project risks. Having experienced failures from developing software based on requirements their customers provided, BPOs are taking a proactive, foundational approach. This will also lead to a growth in onshoring as formerly offshore BAs will be working at their customers’ locations throughout the world.
India will emerge as the shining star of this trend through their global customer reach. Bonus trend: More business analysis certifications will come out of this country than any other in the world.
Rise of tablet tools for business analysts
BAs will put the awesome visual power, functionality and portability of tablet tools to work in their practice, particularly in client interactions. Writing, drawing or creating models on a tablet will enhance visualization and decision-making. Due to their flexibility, tablet tools will enable BAs to get the right details, right on the spot.
This will prove to be a sweet spot for software vendors as demand increases for analysis tools, educational tools, modeling, mapping and other applications BAs didn’t even know they needed.
IIBA Building Business Capability conference will gain prominence for professional development
If anyone needs evidence of the strength, size and influence of the BA community, they need to look no farther than the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) BBC conference. A growing phenomenon, the BBC should double in attendance and attract more delegates from all over the world as the business analysis discipline continues to mature, define specialized niches of practice and gain recognition among practitioners’ organizations. The advancement of the BA profession will elevate the BBC conference to a position of prominence among all project management events.
What does it all mean?
Business analysts are dealing with a Rubik’s Cube of variables as they consider tasks, responsibilities, stakeholders and other factors in the requirements mix. The increasing demands and expectations for RMD in 2012 require business analysts to shift to a new way of thinking. In order to recognize and accommodate the endless permutations for managing requirements effectively, BAs will need to discard narrow viewpoints and approach their work from a 3-D perspective.
2011 TRENDS REVIEW
For those of you keeping track, here’s a brief recap of how the top 10 BA trends of 2011 that were not referenced above finished out last year:
Business analysis will guide the surge in cloud computing: This trend may have been somewhat optimistic. Organizations are still interested in cloud computing, but it may have taken a back seat to the preparation that preempts migration to the cloud. This is a trend that’s still simmering.
RMD will lead in delivering smart business perspective: This trend was probably one of the most prescient of the 2011 trends. Business architecture has never been more prevalent, while BAs are being forced to measure and quantify and balance their skills portfolio. This all has been the result of focusing on people working smarter in order to make smarter decisions for the business.
BPMN will solidify its reputation as the industry standard: Business Process Modeling Notation has absolutely taken the lead in the field. According to the report, “Business Process Modeling Survey” published by BPTrends in December 2011, of the respondents who use process modeling tools, 72 percent use BPMN.
BAs will be recognized as critical to change management to avoid troubled projects: This trend showed early promise but was quickly forgotten as BPMN and business architecture took prominence.
RMD will be essential to regaining market share: This still holds true, and is growing and becoming more critically important. However the movement isn’t quite as strong.
RMD will continue to struggle to define itself: The struggle continues, but we’ve taken steps that have gotten us closer to defining ourselves through BPMN, Agile, the combination of hybrid roles and other developments in the discipline.
Author: Glenn R. Brûlé, CBAP, CSM, Executive Director of Global Client Solutions, ESI International, brings more than two decades of focused business analysis experience to every ESI client engagement. As one of ESI’s subject matter experts, Glenn works directly with clients to build and mature their business analysis capabilities by drawing from the broad range of learning resources ESI offers. A recognized expert in the creation and maturity of BA Centers of Excellence, Glenn has helped clients in the energy, financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, insurance and automotive industries, as well as government agencies across the world. For more information visit www.esi-intl.com.