Understanding the Diffusion of Business Analysis Responsibilities

Business analysis is core to the information systems (IS) discipline. Historically, those performing business analysis held the “Business Analyst” job title; however, in recent years evidence suggests that business analysis is now a job responsibility diffused across a wide variety of roles. It is vital that the IS community understand more about the diffusion of responsibility for business analysis across a variety of organizational roles. This research seeks to provide such an understanding by analyzing job postings referencing business analysis responsibilities. Over 231,000 unique job postings were analyzed to identify the most common job titles associated with business analysis, the hard and soft skills associated with them, and how the job titles compared in terms of skill requirements. The study provides insights to support both academia and industry in understanding business analysis as it relates to IT job titles and roles.