Author(s): Michele Maritato

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Abstract: According to the Babok@ Guide (the standard of Business Analysis of the International Institute of Business Analysis - IIBA@), 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. Business analysis is performed on a variety of initiatives within an enterprise. Initiatives may be strategic, tactical, or operational. Business Analysis teach us how to innovate product starting from the needs of the stakeholders and designing solutions that deliver value to them. Each new product or technology must have an innovative business model behind, otherwise the product is likely to become useless. Business Analysis also teach us how to address a problem. Those problems that can be decomposed in causes might need a Togical' approach to solve them, a 'scientist' approach. But there are problems where this approach is not appropriate: these problems are called 'wicked'. In wicked problems is not possible to discover the root causes of the problem: these problems need a 'designer' approach to face them. Many social problems belong to this category: education, health, refugees, executing strategy, etc. Business Analysis teach us how to 'elicit' information from many sources: people, huge mass of data, systems. The assumption is that needs are hidden inside the stakeholder, and the process to 'draw them out' is called Elicitation. Is not simple to discover hidden things, researchers know very well this complexity. But Business Analysis teach us a variety of techniques that can be used in many situations, helping BA's to discover the hidden part of needs. Business Analysis is the fundamental discipline that allow us to bridge the gaps that might exist between a product and the value which is capable to generate. Mastering this discipline is essential for anyone who deals with innovation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-981-11-2731-1_369-cd

Year: 2018