Business analysis can sometimes seem like an intimidating and complicated job, but that doesn’t have to be the case! There are many steps to the business analysis process, but all of them are designed to help you learn more about your business and how to improve it. Most importantly, they can be incredibly easy to understand if you break them down. In this guide on business analysis, we’ll discuss how to get started and introduce you to some basic concepts of the process along the way.
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What is Business Analysis?
Business analysis is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean? Business analysis is the process of examining data and information about your business for the purpose of making decisions. Similarly, it’s also about understanding what data you need in order to make those decisions.
A business analysis is also a way of looking at your entire business and seeing what’s working, what isn’t, and how you can make things better. They’re also a great way to get a clear picture of where your company stands in the industry.
It’s important to analyze your business often. This helps you adjust to changes in the market proactively and before it’s too late. You might need a business analysis if you want to start or grow your company, or if you’re having issues with finances or sells. But even if all is going well, it’s always good practice to look at all aspects of the company and see how they can be improved.
Gather data
To do a simple business analysis, you need to understand the type of company you have and who you will compete with. This will provide the foundation for all future decisions. After examining your company and the competition, you need to gather data about it. Here are some questions that will help guide your process:
- What are the industry trends?
- What’s happening in my industry?
- Who is my competition?
- How can I be better than them?
- What sets me apart from them?
- How does this affect my business?
- What are my company’s strengths and weaknesses?
- Where am I targeting customers (geographically, by age, gender)?
- What products or services should I offer?
- How much can I charge per unit or service?
- Is there anything unique about the way my company works or makes its money?
- What types of employees should I hire and how many should I keep on hand at any given time?
- What skills do they need to possess in order to succeed in my organization?
- Can other people use our services or products successfully and benefit from them as well as we could if we were producing them ourselves?
Analyze the data
The first step in business analysis is figuring out what decisions you need help with, or what questions you have that are unanswered. You may be wondering how much money you’ll have left over each month at the end of your expenses, or where the best place for your store might be located. The next step is figuring out which pieces of data will answer these questions. That could include an Excel spreadsheet, an email from a customer who was unhappy with their purchase, some survey responses from employees – anything! Once you’ve figured out what you want to know more about, collect all the relevant data together. Next up is analyzing that data.
In business analysis, this means running through each piece of information systematically so you can see if there are any patterns or similarities between them. For example, if you’re looking at employee surveys, this could involve looking at how many hours they work per week and how they rate their workload on a scale of one to five.
Present the findings
What are some key steps for doing this type of analysis? Start by taking an inventory of your company – write down everything that you do. Then, go through each item on the list and analyze them individually. For example, analyze what has been working so far – are there any changes that could be made that would help improve performance? Analyze items that aren’t currently effective – what can change in order to turn these into successes? Finally, take note of anything missing from the list – does this mean that something needs to be created or replaced? Once you’ve gone through every item on the list (as well as any additions), come up with specific actions for implementing those changes.
Implement the solution
A business analysis will provide you with insights into how your company compares to its competitors as well as what you need to do to meet your goals and objectives.
A business analysis typically has four steps:
- Identify Strengths and Weaknesses
- Evaluate Opportunities
- Assess Threats
- Determine Controls
The first step in the process is identifying strengths and weaknesses for the company. These are things that make it unique or things that it does better than its competitors. The next step is evaluating opportunities for the company. These are external factors such as demographics and technology which have the potential to create new markets for your products or services.
You also want to look at internal opportunities such as cutting costs or changing your pricing model. After identifying opportunities, you then want to assess any threats that could derail these opportunities from happening. Threats can be competition from other companies, changes in technology, regulations from government agencies, etc. The final step is determining controls which can be both prevention measures (such as developing a new product) and mitigation measures (such as improving customer service).