Change is the norm, fierce competition is the driver, and lean thinking is the latest call to action.  Corporate survival depends on an ability to be nimble, to react appropriately and swiftly to change, and even better, to drive change to maintain competitive advantage in today’s continuously transforming marketplace. Organizations in both the public and private sectors are struggling to not only react to the high velocity of changes in the economic, political and global landscape, but also to proactively stay ahead of the curve.  It is through projects that organizational leadership teams react to and plan for change.  Projects play an essential role in the growth and survival of organizations today, for it is through projects that we create value in the form of improved business processes and new products and services as a response to changes in the business environment.

To manage change, organizations need to be good at: (1) establishing business strategies and goals, (2) identifying new business opportunities, (3) determining solutions to business problems, and (4) selecting, prioritizing and funding major change initiatives to meet business needs and achieve strategic goals.  The major change initiatives may be:

• Business process improvement and/or re-engineering ventures to replace inefficient and outmoded legacy business processes and technologies
• Significant change programs to continually tune the organizational structure, capabilities and competencies as the business model changes, including initiatives such as: organizational restructuring, down- or right-sizing, staff acquisition and/or re-tooling, establishing/re-locating business operations and mergers and acquisitions
• New lines of business requiring new business processes, organizations, and technologies to support the new operations.

This session describes the rather dismal track record for completion of complex business process changes accompanied by software-intensive IT systems.  It then presents the case for the emerging leadership role played by the Business Analyst to break the cycle of failed and challenged projects.  The presentation discusses the problem with projects, analyzes the BA role, and how professional business analysts contribute significantly to reducing the incidence of failed and challenged projects.  In addition, it speaks to the role of the BA in managing project benefits from the business case to the solution deployment.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover the demographics, skill requirements, organizational placement, and career path of the typical Business Analyst
• Analyze why combining project management, business analysis and systems engineering disciplines leads to success
• Learn why it is the business analyst who manages business benefits achieved through the new business solutions

Skill Level: For Everyone