A few days ago, I came across an article about the future of business analysis that made me pause and think, “How can I echo these ideas”? Not because it brought something entirely new but because it articulated, with clarity, something many of us have been feeling, yet have not been able to fully express.
Written by Filip Hendrickx at The Corner, as a guest from Delvin Fletcher, the president and CEO of IIBA, the article addresses a genuine discomfort. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly taking over tasks that have traditionally been at the core of Business Analysis. Writing requirements. Summarizing information. Generating models. Even suggesting solutions. And it does all that faster. Sometimes better.
So… where does that leave us?
What if Business Analysis was never meant to be confined to those tasks in the first place?
I decided to illustrate it
As I reflected on Filip’s ideas, I realized we can either:
- Compete with AI on execution… (😣 bad idea) or
- Elevate our role to something AI cannot replace: Direction. Context. Judgment. Connection between strategy and outcomes. (😃 much better)
I know sometimes, a model only becomes clear when you can see it. That led me to create a short animated video to turn this concept into something visual, intuitive, and easy to grasp. Watch it below!
A Summary of the Proposal: Expand Business Analysis in Three Directions
Business Analysis can evolve in three directions:
- Horizontal: Not just within projects, but across the full lifecycle. From identifying opportunities before a project exists… To evaluate whether real outcomes were achieved after delivery.
- Vertical: Not just at the project level, but across products, programs, and portfolios. Connecting execution to strategy. Helping organizations decide not only how to build, but what and why.
- Transversal: Not limited to a single team or function. But embedded as a capability across the organization. A way of thinking that scales beyond roles and job titles.
A message to the Business Analysis community
The relevance of the business analysis job was never in the tasks performed. It has always been in the impact created. Not on the outputs, but on the outcomes. And that impact becomes even more important in a world shaped by AI.
If you work with Business Analysis, this is an invitation to rethink and drive the future of our profession. Where do you see Business Analysis evolving in the next few years?
References
- Original articles at the Corner from IIBA – Reframing and Reshaping Business Analysis:
- Part 1: From Strategy to Reality, Now and in the Future by Filip Hendrickx
- Part 2: Making Business Analysis a Core Strategic Function by Angela Wick
- Part 3: Learning From Past Transformations by Filip Hendrickx
- Check out the book “Please Hold” to understand the differences between outputs and outcomes.
