Posts

“Critical Thinking” - The most important skill for any Business Analyst

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly & rationally about what to do or what to believe. With this skill set, you can do the following: Understand the logical connection between ideas. Identify, construct and evaluate arguments. Detect mistake in reasoning. Identify the relevance and importance of the idea. Solve problem systematically. Critical thinking also helps you analyze facts to understand a problem or topic thoroughly. Here are common steps that occur when using critical thinking for problem-solving: Identify a problem or issue Create inferences on why the problem exists and how it can be solved Collect information or data on the issue through research Organize and sort data and findings Develop and execute solutions Analyze what solutions worked or didn’t work Identify ways to improve the solution How to improve your "Critical Thinking" skill: To improve your critical thinking skills, consider taking some of the following

CRM project design and planning process

Image
The key phases of CRM implementation project are: Develop the CRM strategy Build the CRM project foundations Specify needs and select partner Implement the project Evaluate performance. Please note: Depending on the scope of the project some of these phases or processes may not be applicable. 1. Develop the CRM strategy: Situation analysis Development of the CRM strategy starts with a situation analysis . This analysis sets out to describe, understand and appraise the company’s current customer strategy. It helps to have an organizing framework to guide your analysis.  Commence CRM education If you are about to embark on a CRM implementation, it is important that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of what CRM denotes. Education has the twin benefits of allaying any fears that people might have, based on their misunderstandings, and encouraging participation from people whose jobs might be impacted. Education enables stakeholders to identify opportunitie

Commercial contexts of CRM

CRM is practised in a wide variety of commercial contexts, which present a range of different customer relationship management problems.  For example, here we are considering 4 contexts: banks , automobile manufacturers , high-tech companies and consumer goods manufacturers . Banks deal with a large number of individual retail customers. Banks want CRM for its analytical capability to help them manage customer defection (churn) rates and to enhance cross-sell performance. Data mining techniques can be used to identify which customers are likely to defect, what can be done to win them back, which customers are hot prospects for cross-sell offers, and how best to communicate those offers. Banks want to win a greater share of customer spend (share of wallet) on financial services. In terms of operational CRM, many banks have been transferring service into contact centres and online in an effort to reduce costs, in the face of considerable resistance from some customer segments. Aut

Resource/Team Management - tips & tricks

Know your team better: Have a “resource/team tracking & information” sheet ready based on your project. You need to capture all relevant information related to your team. For example: Contact Information: Name Emp id Internal org and client provided email id’s Phone number Role and grade Years of experience Skillsets Latest performance rating or band Which team they belong too and his/her supervisor Location Mandatory training/compliance status Planned and unplanned leaves List of activities they are assigned to and status Etc… Assets & access related information: Laptop or desktop (along with serial number) Relevant software's access Relevant environment access Etc… Career & goals related information: Short term and long term goals Challenges to achieve goals Guidance and support needed What they want to improve and how This information will help you manage and support each resource individually. These are based on my personal expe

How to write "Business Case"

A business case provides plan & justification for undertaking a project, program or portfolio. It evaluates the objective, problem, possible solution, benefit, cost and risk of alternative options. A compelling business case adequately captures both the quantifiable and non-quantifiable characteristics of a proposed project. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also come in the form of a short verbal agreement or presentation. Business cases are created to help decision-makers ensure that: The proposed initiative will have value and relative priority compared to alternative initiatives based on the objectives and expected benefits laid out in the business case. the performance indicators found in the business case are identified to be used for the proactive realization of the business and behavioral change. Business Case should contain: Executive Summary (your introduction and services) Business objective Current business proc

Who is a Business Analyst

A business analyst is any person who performs business analysis tasks described in   the BABOK® Guide, no matter their job title or organizational role. Business   analysts are responsible for discovering, synthesizing, and analyzing information  from a variety of sources within an enterprise, including tools, processes, documentation, and stakeholders. The business analyst is responsible for eliciting the actual needs of stakeholders—which frequently involves investigating and clarifying their expressed desires—in order to determine underlying issues and causes. Business analysts play a role in aligning the designed and delivered solutions with the needs of stakeholders. The activities that business analysts perform include: understanding enterprise problems and goals, analyzing needs and solutions, devising strategies, driving change, and facilitating stakeholder collaboration. T he core business analyst role could be defined as an internal consultancy role that ha

What is Business Analysis

Business analysis is the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining   needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. Business   analysis enables an enterprise to articulate needs and the rationale for change   and to design and describe solutions that can deliver value. This  requirement analysis, sometimes also called requirements engineering. Business analysis is performed on a variety of initiatives within an enterprise.   Initiatives may be   strategic, tactical, or operational. Business analysis may be   performed within the boundaries of a project or throughout enterprise evolution   and continuous improvement. It can be used to understand the current state, to   define the future state, and to determine the activities required to move from the   current to the future state. The person who carries out this task is called a Business Analyst or BA . Reference:  BABOK v3 - from IIBA  and  Wikipedia .

CRM Strategic Orientations

Many businesses claim to be customer-centric, customer-led, customer-focused or customer-oriented, but few are. Indeed, there can be very few companies of any size that do not claim that they are on a  mission to satisfy customer requirements profitably. Strategic CRM is focused upon the development of customer-centric business culture. This culture is dedicated to winning and keeping customers by creating and delivering value better than competitors.  In a customer-centric culture you would expect resources to be allocated where they would best enhance customer value, reward systems to promote employee behaviors that enhance customer satisfaction and retention, and customer information to be collected, shared and applied across the business. Customer-centricity competes with other business logic. Philip Kotler identifies three other major business orientations: product , production , and selling . Product-oriented businesses believe that customers choose products with the best

Business Analysis Core Concept Model™ (BACCM™)

Image
The Business Analysis Core Concept Model™ (BACCM™)  defines business analysis as “the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders”. The purpose of BACCM ™  is to provide a common conceptual framework to business analysts so that they can perform and discuss their work in a common terminology that is independent of perspective, industry, methodology, or their levels in the organization. The BACCM consists of six core concepts: Change, Need, Solution, Stakeholder, Value, and Context. All core concepts are equally important and necessary. There is no ranking among these - no single concept holds greater importance or significance over any other concept. Each core concept is defined by and dependent on the other five core concepts and cannot be fully understood until all the concepts are understood. Core Concept During Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring, business analysts... Change : the