Data Science for Business Analysts: ML/AI

The practical applications of data science are multiplying. From predicting if a delivery will arrive late to recommending how much herbicide to use to save money and protect the ecosystem, there are endless examples of organizations harnessing data science solutions to improve the efficiency and quality of business decisions.  Naturally, the increasing adoption of advanced analytics is going to affect the business analyst role. By asking the right questions, business analysts can help organizations better compete using strategies shaped by machine learning and other advanced analytics techniques.

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Establishing a Business Analysis Center of Excellence

In a previous organization I worked for, I formed a Business Analysis team by bringing 7 business analysis professionals together for the first time.  There were no templates, no standards, everyone was doing work their own way.  I don’t believe in standards for the sake of everyone doing work the same way, but I do believe in embracing what works best in an organization and striving to use that to achieve repeatable success.  I introduced the concept of a Business Analysis Center of Excellence (CoE) to the organization.

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The First Principles Business Analyst

As BA's our fundamental job is to understand the business problems proactively, determine the consequences of not solving them, and then define a solution that eliminates or alleviates the problem. When given our directives: (i) a problem exists- define it (ii) provide a solution to that problem- describe it (iii) a change is required in the business to solve the problem- realize it. We must have effective tools in our arsenal, and a sure way to see beyond the bars on the window is to understand the fundamental truth of the situation and reason up from there. A first principles mindset could be that dominant tool to understand the seed to reap the fruits, enabling us to be the change agents that improve business processes and add value.

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Agile – Is it really so difficult for organizations?

In my experience while working for different companies, I have seen that some organizations are learning to be agile while some pretend to be agile and others are not agile at all. While we are not here to talk about the last category (assuming they have a very good reason for not wanting to go agile), I would like to put down some challenges for organizations who are on their journey to becoming agile and for those who think they are agile but are possibly not. In this article, I am going to talk about my understanding of the plausible reasons why some organizations struggle to make it.

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Explore New Scenarios on IIBA’s KnowledgeHub

Big news! IIBA’s KnowledgeHub has just been enhanced with brand new content that can be applied to your everyday business analysis practices.

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