On Sunday 06-Oct-2019 morning, I woke up like any other holiday without much agenda on my calendar. While having coffee, just noticed my book shelf in the living room and it was in a chaotic state. These are all my most frequently referred books. The book shelf came to this condition, where it was next to impossible to retrieve any books. So, I got a thing to do on this Sunday. I was carefully taking out the books one-by-one, because these are all my priced possessions. Normally I don’t give my books to anyone, as it is hard to keep a track of it. Once my close friend jokingly asked me, if there is a situation you must trade between me and one of these books, what would you do? I immediately told him, “I will trade you for these books”. For your information, still he is my friend! A very understanding one though.
While organizing the books, I took one book and there was a sudden train of thoughts in my mind. Why am I holding this great secret that could help my country, corporate and professionals? That moment, I was holding a book titled Business Analysis by Debra Paul, James Cadle and Donald Yeates published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. I know very well that this is the world’s best written book on Business Analysis, yet I have not made any significant steps to promote this among my clients and students. Not purposefully though, but that thought never came to my mind. Many a times, in our life it happens that we knew something as very valuable, yet we don’t tell others. Today, through this article, I take this opportunity to let all my connections that to succeed in Business Analysis as an individual, company and a country, you cannot afford to ignore this book.
One may ask what’s my credential to make such a statement? I am practicing business analysis from 1990 and very intensely from 2001, trained 100’s of students both in corporate and academia, consulted for companies on business analysis, serving in several board of studies, serving as visiting faculties for MBA Programs in Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), SSN School of Management and several other notable institutions. I felt, as a citizen, as a consultant and as a business analysis teacher, I have a greater responsibility to guide the aspiring professionals to read the right material on business analysis and the companies that follow my words on business analysis.
This book on Business Analysis is written in a lucid style and you will feel like the authors are talking to you. A practical book that explains the business analyst role in the broadest sense right from Strategy Analysis to Business Solution. It has 14 chapters spans through 280 pages. I would recommend that one need to dedicate a month to cover all the 14 chapters by spending couple of hours per day. This first reading will give you tremendous satisfaction and you will feel like you are empowered to a next level in your business analysis skill set. But don't stop here. Revise couple of more times and you will imbibe the true meaning of business analysis and this skill set will become part of your armory. After or while reading this book if you come across any questions, please feel free to post it here in the comments section. I will be keep visiting this article to clarify your questions from the book. Whenever you raise a question from this book indicate the page number as well to help me understand the context.
Business analysis knowledge is very helpful for business analysts, consultants and entrepreneurs. Business analysis is performed in all the professions wherever we deliver value to the customers based on the requirements. Hence this knowledge is applicable to all the professions, only the degree would vary.
This book on Business Analysis by BCS is available in amazon.in
I strongly believe the success of a country starts from people, which makes the corporate successful and that would make the country as an economic superpower. Establishing sound business analysis practices within companies would make Indian companies as a globally competitive one by enabling them to design, develop and deliver superior products and services. Today, India has about 1,186,053 active companies (as per Ministry of Corporate Affairs Monthly Bulletin) and my estimate been, if each company on average would require about 5 business analysts (a conservative number), in total we would require about 59 Lakh business analysts for India. But a quick search on LinkedIn indicated that only 281,383 business analysts are available in India (search using the term “business analyst” for India in LinkedIn on 06-Oct-2019). Business analysts are tech savvy and aware of current trends, so I can safely assume that as much as 60% of business analysts might be registered in LinkedIn. Hence the total number of business analysts in India would be around 470,000, which represents only 8% of India’s current requirement. I would like to thank Mr. Chathura Wanduragala, BCS The Chartered Institute for IT for his support to us in spreading business analysis practice across academia and corporate. On 16-Aug-2019, he was at Chennai to speak at a Corporate & Academia gathering to stress upon the need for Business Analysis.
My vision is to see India as the Business Analysis capital of the world.
What makes me to think business analysis as a powerful one that can transform the economics of a country. Let us first understand organization and business analyst role. I would define an Organization as an amalgamation of people capabilities, process capabilities and system capabilities, which are seamlessly integrated to deliver capabilities to clients in the form of products and services. Why would someone buy a product or service from an organization that doesn’t provide any capabilities? Business analyst is the one who helps an organization to identify the right capabilities and maintain compatibility among the capabilities to better serve the customers. Business analysts not only helps an organization to maintain the internal equilibrium, but also helps an organization to maintain balance with the external forces such as competitors, regulators, government, social groups, customers etc. Business analysts make the organizations sustainable and future ready. An organization that excels in business analysis will be successful and when business analysis is given a national focus that will result in economic excellence. In summary, business analysis helps an organisation to deliver superior performance. And all these changes can start from this one book.
Fhyzics, is an Accredited Training Partner of BCS, UK offering BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis. Join our LinkedIn Group dedicated to business analysis profession.
For more details about Fhyzics’ services, please mail us at cs@fhyzics.net.
About Author
Venkadesh Narayanan is the Principal Consultant at Fhyzics Business Consultants Pvt. Ltd. with over 25 years’ experience in business consulting, business analysis, process improvement, supply chain and new product development. He is a mechanical engineer and an MBA worked for several organizations in India, USA and Canada prior to joining Fhyzics. He is a former Indian Civil Servant [IRAS 2000 Batch] and served in Ministry of Railways, Government of India. You can find some of the videos of Venkadesh Narayanan on various topics in our YouTube Channel Business Analysis Digest and also feel free to connect with him through LinkedIn.
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