The key to any organisation driving innovation is knowing the organisation, understanding key strengths, weaknesses, competitors, customer satisfaction and ultimately values of the organisation. Business process modeling is the best technique to illuminate the true value of an organisation.

We hear often about Business Process Management (BPM), however the danger is these initiatives forget about the business need and get carried away with the mapping of business processes or focus or the notation correctness. Anchoring the project on services/products and business process driven requirements, a Business Analyst (BA) can understand the business process for a service or product in order to elicit the business requirements.

Correctly structured business process driven requirements focus on the business need – delivering services or products or both to customers. These services and products are inevitably delivered through business processes, people and technology. Therefore it is critical that the BA always considers business process within their analysis to discover the business need, related to the delivery of services/products and therefore drive innovation.

When working on the IIBA Competency Model the core team discussed different job titles such as Business Process Analyst, Business Analyst, Business Rules Analyst, Business Systems Analyst, Data Analyst and all agreed that the key role was the Business Analyst who tightly stitched and traced all the elements together.

Innovation – businessdictionary.com: The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. Sounds like the BA role provides the greatest opportunity to lead and influence stakeholders to make more informed business decisions, assisting organisations to become more strategic, flexible, customer focused and innovative in delivering services and products.

Are you using business analysis as a service to drive innovation in your organisation?