One thing every business wants is to earn more. And one thing most businesses do for that is try making smarter decisions. The latter are those that use relevant data and insights. In other words, they are decisions based on business analysis.
What’s Business Analysis Exactly and Who Needs It?
Business analysis identifies what your business needs and figures out the best solutions to address those needs. A common trap is to think you know your business best. That’s certainly so but… not 100% so. The thing is that external professionals can offer fresh perspectives. That is, business analysis consulting services spot issues you might have overlooked and recommend something you might not have known about.
6 Business Analysis Services That Are Really Helpful
1. Strategy Analysis
Here, the task is to examine your current business strategy and assess whether it aligns with your long-term goals. Analysts look at your
- competitive landscape
- market trends
- internal capabilities.
Based on this, they determine if your strategic direction is effective.
Companies that are planning significant growth, launching new products, or entering new markets will benefit the most from strategy analysis. It’s also crucial for businesses experiencing slow growth or a lack of direction.
What to expect?
You’ll get detailed reports on your competitive position, customer needs, and industry trends. Analysts will also recommend how to best adjust your strategy. Do not expect quick fixes or immediate results though. Strategy analysis offers long-term guidance.
2. Business Process Mapping
This one helps when you’d love to see how your business operates. Analysts create flowcharts or diagrams that depict every step in your processes. You’ll be able to examine everything from procurement to customer service.
This is particularly helpful for businesses experiencing inefficiencies or bottlenecks. It’s good for those struggling with miscommunication across departments.
What to expect?
The result is a visual representation of your workflows. You see what works, what doesn’t, and so on. You’ve got lots of insights for effective decisions.
And yet, it’s not a solution in itself. You’ll need to do something about the problem you’ve identified.
3. Requirements Elicitation & Analysis
This helps businesses define the requirements for a project (or a new system). For that, analysts gather information through
- interviews
- surveys
This is necessary to make sure that all stakeholders are accounted for.
What to expect?
You’ll get good guidelines for your project. They will be detailed and comprehensive. Of course, you shouldn’t expect this service to handle the development or implementation phase. It focuses solely on defining what needs to be done, not how it will be executed.
4. Software Audit
This one inspects everything related to a particular software:
- performance
- security
Ideally, every business wants to pay only for the software that helps it achieve its goals. Analysts examine if that’s indeed so. Plus, they check if the software is up to date with industry standards.
This service is particularly relevant to finance, education, and healthcare industries. Companies in these industries (and in many other industries, too) rely heavily on software for daily operations. It thus makes sense to regularly conduct such audits.
What to expect?
You’ll see all about your software: how it performs, how secure it is, and whether it makes sense to improve it (or, perhaps it’s cheaper to replace it). Auditors won’t fix the issues they identify. However, they can give you a roadmap for addressing them.
5. Prototyping and Wireframing
This has to do with creating visual mockups of a proposed product or system. The purpose of such mockups is to demonstrate functionality and layout. This is particularly useful for businesses developing new software, websites, or mobile apps. It allows stakeholders to see the product before they start its development. What to expect?
You’ll see how the final product will function. This phase helps prevent costly changes during later development stages. It lets everyone agree in advance upon what they want and expect.
It’s just important to remember that the mockup is not the final product. It’s a conceptual representation. It’ll still be changing in the development process.
6. Risk Analysis and Mitigation
And finally, this service identifies potential risks in your business processes or upcoming projects. Analysts use data models and historical information to forecast potential problems.
Of course, all businesses face risks, but this service is particularly valuable for industries like construction, finance, and IT. Or, putting it more precisely, it is valuable for industries where project failure can lead to significant financial losses.
What to expect?
You’ll receive a risk management plan that identifies
- high-level risks
- specific risks
- strategies to reduce or eliminate the risks (often includes contingency planning and prioritization of risks).
Of course, no risk analysis can guarantee complete risk elimination. The goal is to mitigate risks to a manageable level.
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Overall, business analysis services are best for companies starting a new project, planning to build a new product, or simply considering change. The key benefit of such services is that their professionals have worked with different clients and thus have useful experience (and great know-how) to share.
With over a decade in the tech field, Bogdan blends technical expertise with insights on business innovation in technology.
A regular contributor to TMS Outsource's blog, where you'll find sharp analyses on software development, tech business strategies, and global tech dynamics.
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