The Case for AI and Business Analysis

How AI Complements Business Analysis

The Case for Artificial Intelligence and Business Analysis

A rabbit hole I've been digging lately.

Some of my work notes.

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Quick Definition: Business Analysis

Business Analysis is the art of:

➢ Identifying needs

➢ Solving problems, and

➢ Implementing solutions

To:

→ Drive growth,

→ Improve efficiency, and

→ Deliver organizational value

As a Business Analyst, you're a:

↳ Problem-solver

↳ Analyst

↳ Strategist

↳ Innovator

↳ Thinker

↳ And Leader

In one.

I define a Business Analyst as a Consultant who actually finishes the job-

↪ A Consultant recommends.

↪ A Business Analyst recommends and executes.

Anyway,

Enter AI, which needs no intro.

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The Case for AI and Business Analysis

At least so far.

1. 📊 Data-Driven Insights 📊

💡. A good chunk of a BA's job is Data Analysis & Visualization.

With AI integrated into BI tools (e.g., Copilot for Power BI),

Data is analyzed faster and more efficiently,

And predictive analytics for forecasting purposes.

I'd call AI my Analytical Assistant that does the heavy lifting

As I strategize the next steps from the analysis.

2. 🔁 Automation of Repetitive Tasks 🔁

This is a good one.

💡. Manual tasks like:

↳ ETL - Export, Transform, and Load,

↳ Data cleaning,

↳ Report generation, and

↳ Requirements documentation

AI can do such.

💡. There´s also Natural Language Processing (NLP) that can extract insights like customer feedback from a variety of data sources.

💡. Then there's Workflow Automation;

→ In a Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC), there's a process flow.

→ And in that process flow, AI can detect and execute monotonous tasks, saving time.

→ Best case: A process of seven tasks, for example, being slashed into four, which the BA executes.

3. 📈Scalability and Efficiency 📉

This is a big one.

💡 When AI handles the humongous tasks in an org,

Business Analysts become more strategic.

💡 AI can handle complex datasets that directly correlate to an organization's size.

For example,

Assuming 💯% efficiency,

→ If a team of 10 handles 1GB with AI,

→ Then AI analyzing 100GB means it supports a team of 1,000.

That's 1,000 pieces of brainpower that can be leveraged toward the needle-mover tasks in an organization.

(Broader AI training + AI Literacy needed, of course.)

4. 🧠 Focus on Strategic Value 🧠

💡. AI does all the dirty work:

→ Hands-on analysis

→ Workflow Automation

→ And insights provisioning

Then, Business Analysts become the strategic piledrivers.

💡. If you're looking at the Five "Wh" questions:

→ AI does the "What."

→ BAs do the "When," "Where," and "Why."

🫱🏽‍🫲🏽 And both the BA and AI collaborate on the "How."

Plus many more use cases, of course.

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Closing

I'm 90% instinctually confident that AI won't replace Business Analysts,

Or any other analytical jobs, for that matter.

Rather,

AI is a catalyst that has us reimagining our professions more strategically.

The future of Business Analysis,

As I see it,

Lies in the synergy between Human Expertise, Strategy, and AI Innovation.

More to come.

Curious about any thoughts.

Peace,

.

.

.

~T.K.K

{PS: I've never put these many emojis in a blog post before, lol.}

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