Episode 108: Architects of Change - The Role of Business Analysts in Evolving Organizations

What in the world is a business analyst? Join Doug and Jess in this episode of The RevOps Show as they provide a definition of the business analyst role, discuss the skills needed, when an organization should hire one, and the problems that a business analyst helps solve.

Audio:

Video:

Additional Resources:

• [Blog] What it Means to be Data-Drive, How It's Different from Metrics & How to Apply it

Show Notes:

Pre-Show Banter: 

• Another day another show recorded on a Friday morning! Doug has had his two cups of coffee. Jess is slowly getting there. 
• The more we’ve grown at Lift, the less Doug knows what’s going on on a daily basis. That’s not a bad thing, it means he can focus on more important matters. 
• Doug traveled to the great state of Ohio and he bets the hotel he stayed in was created by a 32 year old.

Main Discussion Points: 

• A business analyst is responsible for process improvement. THey take a database approach to enable ongoing change. They lean into the future rather than reacting to the past.
• Any business analyst needs to understand math and statistics. They should be curious, have the ability to work with large datasets, be comfortable with technology like Python and SQL, and have great communication skills. Not to mention they should be highly proficient with business acumen. 
• If you’re looking to hire a business analyst, some areas to consider: 
  • When complexity reaches a point one person can no longer manage analysis.
  • When aiming for high growth.
  • When needing to make small ongoing tweaks and optimizations.
• A business analyst should help to identify issues companies aren’t yet aware of, improve throughput and key business metrics, and increase predictability.

Jess’s Takeaways: 

• Having some level of fractional or business process outsourcing to get your process defined and ironed out can be more of an effective way to build out the business analyst position to hire an internal person.
• A business analyst is going to enable you to have scenario planning. 
• The business analyst role should help you have more predictability in your business.

Next Steps: 

• Follow Jess, Doug & Lift on socials for updates on the show or other insights: 

  • Doug Davidoff LinkedIn

  • Jess Cardenas LinkedIn

  • Lift Enablement LinkedIn

• Follow the show on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

• Subscribe to The RevOps Show YouTube channel

• Coming Soon: Episode 109!