Business analysis is an interesting practice, which opens doors to almost all areas. After having done 5 successive years in IT projects between 2017 and 2021, I had my first Marketing initiative. It was a commercial project, the ultimate objective of which was to increase the turnover of a Guard Services. In fact, the company wanted to recruit a trained salesperson with at least 10 years of sales experience. I didn’t have a degree in business management and I didn’t have 10 years of sales experience. When I took on the project, the Managing Director told me he doubted I could pull it off.

I wasn’t too scared, because for me it was like lifting an object. This famous quote that I made mine is attributed to Archimedes: “Give me a lever and a fixed point, and I will lift the World”. And then I told the Director: ” If you have the leverage (the necessary resources), then let me find the right point of support to raise your cash flow.”

Fortunately, the body of knowledge of Business Analysis the BABOKv3 Guide exists. It is the Bible of Business Analysts. The BABOK® v3 Guide is used in the business analytics industry as a best practice guide and can be used to apply effective analytics to different types of organizations for a wide variety of reasons. This guide is the leading source of information for all areas of business analysis knowledge and techniques. The BABOK® v3 guide includes several types of content including business analysis tasks organized into six knowledge areas. The six knowledge areas include strategic analysis. And it was the analysis of the strategy that allowed me to make the difference. Since the company had already had to recruit several experts before me.

Knowledge area of Strategy Analysis

Strategic analysis is perhaps the fastest growing area of business analysis in recent days. This perhaps explains why it is found in version 3 of the BABOK ® guide. This knowledge area provides context and connection between projects and the business. Although most of the work of business analysis usually occurs within the confines of the project, some parts of the work take place before and after the project. This is often the most difficult part of the business analyst ‘s job , because it can be very political, complex and unexplored. Pre-project activities tend to give the analyst the greatest organizational visibility through relationships with higher levels of the organization. If the business analyst succeeds in this area, it can be an excellent asset for the future; if he fails, it will be noticed. And that’s what worked in my favor. I never launch into initiatives without carrying out strategy analyses.

The International Institute of Business Analysis ™ (IIBA™) defines strategy analysis , in the Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®) version 3, as the area of knowledge that describes business analysis activities necessary for

• Identify a business need
• Helping the business meet this need
• Align the initiative with other company initiatives

And that’s exactly what I did. While the Director waited for me to come out, I presented my plan to him. And he was surprised that in the first three months, I wasn’t already going out to do prospecting and calls. I explained Archimedes’ phrase to him again and made him understand that the lever is of no use if you don’t have the right point of support. Without a point of support, even with a good lever, we can do nothing but waste time and energy. The three months therefore allowed me to:

• Identify the business need: Who was more likely to compete with the best in class (the leader among companies in the security sector).
• Design the action plan that would allow the company to meet this need
• Align this initiative with other company initiatives ( tracking initiative , process mapping and information management)

Define the business need

All business analysis initiatives must be based on a business need. Unfortunately, many embark on projects with just the objectives. For my part, Searching and finding business needs is the first activity that a Business Analyst should do in this type of initiative. Naturally, this need can exist at different levels. Some initiatives are strategic, others are tactical and still others are operational in nature. Defining the business need is essential for buy-in and success of the project.

According to the BABOK® guide, the business need “defines a problem or opportunity of strategic or tactical importance to be addressed”. The business need driving the change must be documented and accepted. A Business Analyst must understand the current state of the business in relation to this proposed change in order to have context for the change.

Defining the business need involves analyzing the current state of the company. And it took me a month. I noticed that customers were dissatisfied because security guards were deserting their guard posts. The consequence is that these customers hit the company with penalties. In addition, I noticed that security agents were deserting because their needs were neglected by HR and that the needs were neglected by HR because there was no management support tool, some sort of CRM. I immediately understood that only increasing the number of customers or turnover would not satisfy shareholders. Do not forget. A business analysis does not only recommend solutions. It recommends solutions that provide the highest values to all stakeholders according to their context. We therefore fell into two types of opportunities (my point of support):

• Lower the costs
• Deliver value

RESULTS :

The initiative was quite interesting; I found myself with three projects in a single initiative. Business management software was needed to help HR in their management and operations in their business. It was necessary to win back lost customers and retain existing ones. And we had to look for new customers.

I’ll give you the results in figures and we’ll come back to the details of each part soon.

• 12 months elapsed between taking charge of the mission and the final presentation
• +20% Improvement in monthly turnover
• 1 strategy business
• 1 repositioning of the company
• 1 global action plan (roadmap)
• 03 New clients (French multinational, American multinational, and Cameroonian group)
• +1 ERP/CRM installed which centralizes information and allows better treatment of employees.