On 25th June 2021 formal kickoff ceremony of IIBA Bangladesh Chapter was held in Hotel Grace21 on Hybrid Zoom Platform. Mr. Junaid Ahmed Palak MP, State minister for Posts, Telecommunication and ICT ministry, inaugurated the chapter as chief guest. While Mr. Mushfiqur Rahman Vice President BASIS and Mr. Tanvir Ibrahim Vice President BACCO spoke as special guest. Annesha Ahmed, President PMI Bangladesh was also present as guest of honor.
During the kickoff ceremony, Fintech has spoken with Kazi Saiful Haque, President of IIBA Bangladesh Chapter. Mr. Kazi saiful Hoque completed his MBA from IBA University of Dhaka. He also studied in Duke University USA. He is a certified Business Analysis Professional CBAP, Project Management Professional PMP and a certified Block chain Expert. The IIBA president spoke about the current situation of the industry and the role of this profession.
Here is an excerpt of the interview
What is IIBA?
The International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA®) is a non-profit professional association serving the growing field of business analysis.As the global thought leader and voice of the business analysis community, IIBA actively supports the recognition of the profession, and works to maintain global standards for the ongoing development of the practice and certifications.
In 2003, the International Institute of Business Analysis was founded as an independent non-profit professional association. Some of its objectives were to :
- act as the voice of the business analysis community,
- support the recognition of the profession
- maintain standards for the practice and certification and,
- Provide the resources to help individuals enhance and advance their career path.
As of 2020, the International Institute of Business Analysis had over 29,000 members and more than 10,000 certified professionals, with 120 chapters on 6 continents.
What Is Business Analysis? Is it a new branch of knowledge?
A: Business Analysis is an old practiced Profession. Since the onset of modern civilization,this branch of applied knowledge has been practiced on daily basis knowingly or unknowingly. Flourished with advancement of software and digital technology.
Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organizational context, by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. The Business Analyst is an agent of change. Business Analysis is a disciplined approach for introducing and managing change to organizations, whether they are for-profit businesses, governments, or non-profits.
Business analysis is used to identify and articulate the need for change in how organizations work, and to facilitate that change. As business analysts, we identify and define the solutions that will maximize the value delivered by an organization to its stakeholders. Business analysts work across all levels of an organization and may be involved in everything from defining strategy, to creating the enterprise architecture, to taking a leadership role by defining the goals and requirements for programs and projects or supporting continuous improvement in its technology and processes.
The value of business analysis is in realization of benefits, avoidance of cost, and identification of new opportunities, understanding of required capabilities and modeling the organization. Through the effective use of business analysis, we can ensure an organization realizes these benefits, ultimately improving the way they do business.
What roles do Business Analysts Play in their Profession?
A: The role of a Business Analyst is continuously evolving and changing, the reason being that companies depend more on data to advise business operations. For every company, there are different issues that a business analyst needs to address; they may include broken processes, changing technologies, customer satisfaction, etc.
The different job roles are defined by the responsibilities they need to accomplish. A business analyst might play the following roles:
- System Analyst
- Data Analyst
- Business Process Analyst
- Functional Architect
- IT Business Analyst
- Usability or UX Analyst Etc.
What Skills Required For A Business Analyst?
A: For every job role, there is a certain set of skills that a candidate needs to possess or develop. As a business analyst needs to know how to collect, analyze, and report trends of data and share the information with the designated people so as to apply it on the business side.
The key skills required to become a business analyst are:
- Analytical skills because the role of BA includes analysis of data, workflow, documents, business processes, etc.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Business processing and planning
- Requirements engineering
- Cost-benefit analysis
- Thorough knowledge of networks, databases, and other techniques
- The capability of delivering detailed-oriented and accurate results
- Leadership skills
- Organizational skills
What certifications IIBA offers. What are the benefits of getting certified?
IIBA, the international institute of business analysis, is one of the leaders in the industry on business analysis certifications. Their levels of certification span from entry level certificates for awareness of business analysis concepts to professional level designations requiring years of expertise to now specific subject concentration areas of interest to the business analysis profession
Certificates include ECBA™, CCBA™, CBAP™, IIBA®-CBDA, IIBA®-AAC, IIBA®-CCA, and IIBA®-CPOA.
Certification gives a Business Analyst the global recognition with respect to his/her experiences, capabilities and standards. Salary survey shows that certified Business Analysts are getting enhanced salary ranging up to 19 percent higher than noncertified professionals
How does IIBA ensures Standards of Practices and Ethics?
A guide to the Business Analysis Body OfKnowledge (BABOK Guide) The standard for the practice of business analysis and is for professionals who perform business analysis tasks. Recognized globally as the standard of business analysis, it guides business professionals within the six core knowledge areas, describing the skills, deliverables, and techniques that business analysis professionals require to achieve better business outcomes
IIBA Code of Ethical Conduct and Professional Standards for members and certification holders is one of the ways that we put IIBA’s values into practice. A Business Analyst who is an IIBA Member must read and agree to this Code of Ethical Conduct and Professional Standards in order to be able to proceed with his application for certification exam.
Why do think business Analysis is important in today’s perspectives.
Today, the external environment is so unpredictable that you need to make your business agile so as to adapt to the changing world easily. IIBA considers the business analyst to be an “agent of change”. According to IIBA, a business analysisis a disciplined approach for introducing and managing change to organizations, whether they are for-profit businesses, governments or non-profits.”
The trends for business analysis includes an emphasis on organizational agility, considerable recognition of roles, improvement in recent processes and technologies, the effect of digital transformation, design of user interface and user experience, data and analytics, and more. The trends also include scalable and leaner business cases and also the learning of business analysis at the fringe.
We can observe that the process of business analysis and eventually the role of business analysts are going through prompt changes. There will be a huge demand for business analysts due to the attractiveness of crossover skills, the need for cybersecurity, technical projects going data-driven, etc. Given the dynamic changes to the macro and microenvironments, as well as evolving changes in customer behavior, the need to better understand business analysis and customer needs are constantly growing. As such, business analysts can assist organizations to understand the current environment; and help them to transition to this new era, or way of doing business, which is often described as the ‘ideal state.
What is the Status of Practices and recognition of this Profession in Bangladesh?
Among Asian counties, development of Bangladesh is noticeable with rapid digital transformation. Business Analysis professionals are employed in IT, Software development, Project management, production planning, financial and many other sectors, profession is not properly focused, recognized and valued.
There is need for clearer understanding of the role of business analysts in an organization. Companies have various views or definitions of a business analyst and, as a result, the profession is not fully appreciated. If organizations better understand the role and how business analysis can contribute to the bottom line, then both the individual and the company will benefit greatly.
Across the globe business Analysis is being taught in graduation and Masters Level along with certification courses in most of the leading universities. Business Analysts in Europe, USA and also in Asia are enjoying better starting salaries than their colleagues in other discipline. So this is the demand of time to include this disciple of knowledge in Universities of Bangladesh to keep global benchmark.
Through an application of various tools and techniques, business analysts can assist our local companies to realize and optimize business outcomes, which in most instances equate to higher returns or efficiency gains
What role IIBA Bangladesh Chapter will play?
IIBA Bangladesh Chapter will act as the voice of the business analysis community. It will build awareness and promote the professional practices of Business Analysis in Bangladesh. Disseminate knowledge about business analysis Best practices, Certification and career prospects
We shall Work to create a vehicle to promote awareness among companies, and foster partnerships to achieve better understanding and synergy in organizations among leadership and business analysts. The chapter will also help to further build out the skills of local business analysts
