Business Analyst Vs. Senior Business Analyst

Business Analysts Solve Problems

Business analysts are change agents, problem solvers and strong communicators who use data and technology to help businesses improve. As one, you may have a variety of duties including helping managers define a strategy for improving work processes and systems then putting those improvements in place. Most business analysts enter the job with at least a bachelor’s degree in business or information technology.

Senior Analysts Guide

The senior business analyst governs all aspects of a project keeping it in harmony with the client’s entire organization. As one, you’d make sure that changes to systems or business processes are profitable for your client and implemented without disrupting your client’s service to customers. The senior analyst works closely with a client’s leadership to recommend changes and work through obstacles. Senior analysts also serve as managers and mentors to business analysts. Some have completed the Certified Business Analysis Professional program offered by the International Institute of Business Analysis.

Different Perspectives

A business analyst may have expertise in a certain type of project or in a type of domain of business analysis such as insurance or banking. Developing expertise in multiple business domains by handling projects in different industries helps an analyst climb to the senior rank. More than the depth of a specialty or number of years on the job, the breadth of experience helps a senior business analyst keep a project aligned with an organization’s overall goals while also being able to dive deep into the minutiae of the project, says Certified Business Analysis Professional Kupe Kupersmith in a 2012 article for "Business Analyst Times."

Similar Paths

Business analysts share with their senior colleagues an understanding of business structure and organizations, as well as information technology. Analysts of either position need to be skilled in tools of the trade such as the Unified Modeling Language and Business Process Modeling Notation, which are standard for understanding and designing workflow patterns and business processes. The two types of analysts also share the need to bring to their jobs excellent facilitation, organization, decision-making and consultative skills.