Career as a Business Analyst: Courses, Eligibility and Salary

Looking for high paying careers in the field of management? Business Analyst is a profile that you should most certainly look into. As a Business Analyst, you will be able to explore the business world from a research and evaluation perspective. Being a critical role for every organisation, this is one of the highest paying management profiles.

International Institute of Business Analysis’ book “A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide), which is globally acknowledged as the holy book of Business Analysis, roughly defines Business Analysis as sparking value-driven changes in an organization by defining the need for it and offering solutions that may enable that change. According to IIBA’s guide, the job of a Business Analyst exists beyond projects and includes analysing the potential strategies as well as evaluating whether the solution has brought about the desired effect or if there is some scope for improvement.

Basically, the job of a Business Analyst is not just to understand the requirements of clients and suggest procedures that help in improving the services of an organisation but also to ensure that the solution/procedures offered are streamlined and offering the best outputs to an organization. The process may include evaluating the competition, reviewing financial statements along with analysing the existing business practices. Following are all the details you need to know in order to become a Business Analyst.

Business Analyst Key Skills and Role

Problem-solving via gathering information and logically evaluating it is the key skill that a person who takes on the role and responsibilities of Business Analysis has to develop and work with on a daily basis. Following are the skills that a person must possess or develop to become a good Business Analyst:

• Problem-solving skills are of utmost importance for candidates who aspire to become business analysts.

• Good communication skills are also essential as a Business Analyst is continuously required to be able to understand the client’s needs as well as explain the rationale behind the strategies that he/she designs

• The ability to do detailed research and predict upcoming business trends is also important in order to become a good Business Analyst.

• Having a good understanding of technology and the tools that can help in information analysis and strategy-building is also essential for this field in order to conduct efficient research.

The activities performed in a Business Analyst role include:

• Recognizing the problems that are preventing/delaying or may prevent/delay an organization from achieving its goals

• Analyzing the needs of an enterprise and offering solutions that satisfy those needs

• Building strategies and processes that contribute towards the sustainable growth of an organization and being the key driver in the implementation and adaptation of these processes

Following are all the details you need to know in order to become a Business Analyst.

Business Analyst Courses in India

Some of the Business Analytics course offered by the most popular colleges for Business Analytics in India are listed in the table below. The exact programmes and durations may vary with college, this information is just to give you a rough estimate:

Courses	Duration
MBA in Business Analytics	2 years
Postgraduate Programme in Business Analytics	2 years
Executive Programme in Business Analytics (EPBA)	6 to 12 months
Certificate in Business Analytics	1 month
Postgraduate Programme in Business Analytics & Big Data	2 years
Certificate in Big Data and Analytics	6 months
Postgraduate Certificate in Predictive Business Analytics	10 months to 1 year
PGDM Programme with specialisation in Analytics	2 years
PGDM with specialisation in Business Intelligence and Big Data	2 years
Executive Program in Business Analytics and Business Intelligence	6 to 12 months

Eligibility and Selection Process for Business Analytics Courses

• Since most of the courses mentioned above are post-graduate diploma or certificate courses, you will be required to pursue at least a graduation degree in any field to be eligible for these courses.
• Candidates who have studied either accounting, financial modelling, management principles, business law, communications or marketing in graduation are considered ideal for these programmes.
• Most of the good b-schools offering the above programmes will require you to have at least 3 to 6 years of work experience to suit the requirement of the course.
• Enrollment in most of the PGDM programmes is done on the basis of entrance exams like CAT, CMAT, MAT, GMAT, etc.
• Some of the institutes may also conduct Personal Interviews before ensuring your seat in a Business Analytics programme.

Also Read: Career in Shipping and Logistics: Find out about Courses and Job Scope

Top Colleges offering Business Analytics in India

College	Course(s) Offered
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad	Certificate in Business Analytics - 1 year
IIM Calcutta, IIT Kharagpur and ISI Kolkata	Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (Joint Programme) - 2 years
IIM Bangalore	Business Analytics & Intelligence - 8 months
Great Lake Institute of Management, Chennai	Post Graduate Programme in Business Analytics & Business Intelligence - 1 year Business Analytics Certificate Programme - 6 months
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai	Analytics for Business Executive Certificate Programme in Big Data Analytics
SDA Bocconi, Mumbai	Executive Programme in Business Analytics - 10 months
Praxis School of Business, Kolkata	Post Graduate Programme in Data Science - 1 year
Aegis School of Business and Telecommunication (ASBT), Bangalore and ASBT, Mumbai	Post Graduate Programme (PGP/MS) in Data Science, Business Analytics & Big Data in association with IBM - 11 months

Scope of Business Analytics in India

Data has taken the centre space on the global stage as one of the most valuable assets for an organization. As more and more firms starting leveraging data for business growth, the need for people who can build data processing and analysis systems will only increase. Study of market trends has revealed that the need for Business Analysts in the upcoming decade is expected to grow at a rate higher than most of the currently trending careers.

Although there are few Indian firms that pay good packages to business analysts, there are some of the top consultancies in the country that hire candidates for high paying business analyst profiles. Some of the consultancies also hire freshers for profiles like assistant business analyst, etc. The scope of getting a good job is highly dependent on your experience in any industry and the institute from where you have pursued your certification.

Some of the careers that professionals in the field of Business Analytics can go for are:

• IT Business Analyst

• Data Business Analyst

• Financial Analyst

Some of the top companies in India for Business Analyst professionals include:

• IBM

• Accenture

• S&P Global

• American Express

Also Read: Executive MBA Programmes offered by Top B-schools: Application Dates, Fees & More

Business Analyst Salary in India

Business Consultant is a high paying job provided that you have pursued your diploma or certificate from a reputed college or university. The average salary of a business consultant is Rs. 8,95,187 per annum. Your experience will highly influence the profile and salary that you will get.

Highly experienced professionals are paid close to Rs. 25 to 30 lakh per year. As a business analyst, you will be responsible for process improvement, IT Consulting, IT consulting, client interaction and pre-sales.

Business Analytics is a professional course that has abundant scope for growth in the future. Working professionals who opt to pursue a Business Analytics course from top management schools often manage to get offered six-figure salaries by some of the top companies in India. It is a viable career path, especially for people who are interested in problem-solving and data analysis.

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