How to become a freelance business analyst

Are you a business analyst looking to go freelance? If you are looking into getting into becoming a business analyst and/or want to do it on a freelance basis, this guide by Yasmin Ledward from Business Analyst Jobs UK gives you a good insight.

What is a Business Analyst?

A business analyst is someone who recognises business needs and issues by assessing its systems. Business analysts may have to develop new systems, improve processes and strategic planning to provide organisations with recommendations. Business analysts’ roles vary depending on the type of company and industry they are in. They are responsible for changing needs, assessing the impact of change and documenting requirements. Business analysts must then ensure that the requirements are delivered by the relevant departments whilst supporting the business through the implementation process.

Business Analyst Skills

It is essential that you research the particular skills needed to become a business analyst. Not every day is the same and therefore you will need to have a variety of IT and soft skills. The top skills for a business analyst are as follows:

Communication

One of the most important skills for a business analyst to have is communication. Business analysts will mainly communicate through software applications to document requirements such as stories and bug tracking. Communicating over the phone, through email and instant messaging are all ways to exchange information and is extremely important in a business analyst role.

Problem Solving

It is clear to see that business analysts need problem-solving skills to identify problems and opportunities to recommend solutions for organisations. Within problem-solving skills, the business analyst will also have to possess creative and analytical skills to enable them to analyse as many problems to enable several solutions.

Database Structure skills

Business Analysts need to be familiar with database structure concepts such as OOPS and OOAD. The concepts help business analysts to create real-world entities that may come up within a business.

Modelling tools

Specific software’s are used as modelling tools to make businesses lives easier when it comes to mapping a project. The UML modelling software allows for business analysts, developers and data modellers to work together effectively on a project on one tool. This way it is easier to track requirements through the development process.

Steps to take to become a Business Analyst

Education

Having an education which involves or has involved technology is a good place to start when wanting to build a career as a business analyst. Furthering your education through an IT-related or business degree will also help you to become a business analyst.

Learning core skills

As a new business analyst or a business analyst in training, it is extremely beneficial to have some knowledge of certain skills which are required. Over half of software projects aren’t expected to finish on time or on budget, so it is important to adopt skills to prevent this from happening.

Training

It is not essential to have a degree when trying to become a business analyst. However, it is beneficial to undertake training courses to develop your knowledge. By taking training courses you can learn specific skills that a business analyst would use on a daily basis. These include writing business cases, strategic business recommendations and learning how to use business process models.

Steps to becoming a freelance Business Analyst

Develop an online footprint

As a freelance business analyst, it essential to earn your clients trust as you will be dealing with their finances, trade secrets and value propositions. Therefore, developing an online footprint will allow you to demonstrate your positive reputation in the industry. This way, you will be far closer to landing yourself a job when prospects google freelance business analysts and see your positive recommendations.

Use your full skillset

When becoming a freelance business analyst, it is highly likely that you will have a wide variety of processes and procedures that you take when completing your role. However, when you become a freelance business analyst you will need to expand your knowledge to seek new clients as the role will become highly diverse.

Learn to adapt quickly

When you start a new job, you must quickly learn about the company’s culture, goals, history and finances. Therefore, when becoming a freelancer, you must be able to adapt quickly to different companies to begin making recommendations and starting new programmes immediately. It is essential to demonstrate productivity in the first few days on the job as your clients will expect you to provide value right away.

More on starting up as a freelancer and starting a freelance business that matches your skillset.