What comes to mind when you hear the word Strategic Business Analysis?

 For me it is the study of business strategy and how to improve them

What does a Strategic Business Analyst do?
 Strategic business analysts identify business needs and solutions within the context of the
overall direction of a company
What is Strategic Business Analysis?
Google definition - Strategic analysis refers to the process of researching an organization and
it’s working environment to formulate a strategy
 Enables business transformation by executing on the strategy and strategic initiatives
developed by strategy analysis including digital, services and cultural change.
 Strategic initiative is a program with several stream of work that achieve the desired
business outcome
 It involves: outcome focused thinking, simultaneously understanding business context,
business challenges, and the complexities of the internal and external environment to frame
the scope of the transformation, articulate the business need/ outcome, and shape the agenda
for transformation
 It leverages business analysis, change leadership, and program and project management.
 Strategic business analysis focuses on ‘what and why’, not the ‘how’ of solution
implementation.
What is the purpose of strategic and business analysis?
The major purpose of strategic business analysis is to deliver the factual component to support
business decisions. Supplying the equally essential emotional component, or “gut feel”
necessary to make the decision remains the prerogative of the decision maker.
Figure 1.1: Strategic Business Analysis in Context of the Life Cycle

Kung mapapansin niyo sa illustration, nakikita natin sa gray part ang strategic business, so after
identifying the strategic initiatives in strategic planning, dito na papasok si Strategic business
analysis, and prior to creating the business case, conducting procurement, and implementation
for a business program or project.
Take note that…Strategic business analysis establishes and provides the foundations for the program
and its work-streams or projects. It enables business change and initiates the building of business
capability.
Sinasabi dito na… It is commonly neglected by organizations in their haste to move from strategy to
delivery, pero and sinasabi o pinapakita ng statistics is that, it is vital for successful solution design and
delivery.
It is common to find that the first thing a business requires is a timeline for delivery, skipping past
strategic business analysis. Kadalasan it’s because of incorrect assumptions, rework, delay, and not
achieving business outcomes because the requirements are based on the current rather than the future
requirements and design.
So ang main point dito that we should remember is that, strategic business analysis It is about
identifying the core business problems that the business needs to address. It’s like “peeling away
the onion” meaning to say, the strategic business analysis needs to be critical, visual, and analytical
in terms of identifying those core business problems which will be used by the organization in order
to provide proper solutions.
 Perform an environmental analysis (SWOT, PEST) of current strategies. Starting from
the beginning, a company needs to complete an environmental analysis of its current
strategies.
Environmental analysis is a strategic tool. It is a process to identify all the external and internal
elements, which can affect the organization’s performance.
SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats)-a study undertaken by an organization to
identify its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats.
PEST Analysis is a strategic framework used to evaluate the external environment for a business
by breaking down opportunities and threats into Political, Economic, Social, and Technological
factors.

 Determine the effectiveness of existing strategies.

Determine the effectiveness of existing strategies A key purpose of a strategic analysis is to
determine the effectiveness of the current strategy amid the prevailing business environment.
Strategists must ask themselves questions such as: Failing or succeeding.
 Formulate plans.
This is where you need to break down each key stage with their respective Business Analysis
deliverables into specific tasks. Once you know what is required from a work breakdown
perspective you are ready to estimate the effort required for the Business Analysis Plan. Papasok
na rin ang mg alternatives para kung sakaling may problema merong contingency plan.
 Recommend and implement the most viable strategy.
after assessing strategies and proposing alternatives, we reach a recommendation. After assessing
all possible strategic alternatives, we choose to implement the most viable and quantitatively
profitable strategy.
 Strategic business analysist needs to be critical, visual, and analytical.
Since ang business strategy is kailangan ng business analyst kailangan din natin na may
background siya about dito. Ang business analayst ang may malaking factor sa ating business
kasi siya ang magbibigay ng recommendation kung ano ang makakabuti sa ating business.
 Strategic business analysis deals with concepts and abstracts, rather than an ordered
logical sequence.
 Strategic thinking is simply an intentional and rational thought process that focuses on the
analysis of critical factors and variables that will influence the long-term success of a
business, a team, or an individual. This sort of thinking must account for economic realities,
market forces, and available resources.
 It is about listening and interpreting the many different views and eliciting the patterns and
themes.
Figure 1.2: Strategic Business Analysis in the Program Life Cycle

Strategic initiatives-A Strategic Initiative is an investment of resources dedicated to accomplish

an organizational objective.
Strategic business analysis- Strategic business analysis involves outcome focused thinking,
simultaneously understanding business context, business challenges, and the complexities of the
internal and external environment to frame the scope of the transformation, articulate the
business need/outcome, and shape the agenda for transformation.
Business case development- a project management document that explains how the benefits of a
project overweigh its costs and why it should be executed.
Procurement-  the activity or process by which a business or organization sources or procures the
goods or services that it requires
Implementation-is a set of steps that companies use to determine how to implement a strategic
plan within company activities to achieve one or more business plan objectives.
Transition,adoption, business outcome- dito na iaapply yung life cycle. Transition from past
business strategy to new business strategy. Adoption ng bagong strategy and assessing it thtough
business outcome.

The Strategy to Execution Framework helps those engaged with strategic business analysis to
work more effectively with the business to create the strategies and elements that guide the
business in moving from strategy to execution.
Changing Mindsets
Those engaging in strategic business analysis frequently embed themselves within the business
units in order to understand the dynamically changing environment and business led delivery.
They focus more on the why and the what and less on the how. This may require a change of
mindset for many business analysis practitioners, one that moves away from personal bias and
assumptions.
Successful strategic business analysis involves continuous learning.
 Those who engage in strategic business analysis embrace a growth mindset, one that is
open to learning, resolving problems, and input from others at all levels within an
organization.
 They embrace innovation, external perspectives, and continual improvement, and adopt
such techniques as 'customer perspective', 'design thinking', and 'thinking outside the
box'.
Those engaged with strategic business analysis in a business transformation program or working
with the business, are on a journey that is not prescriptive in nature.
 The business is constantly changing in reaction to external and internal forces.
 These changing components require critical thinking skills, creativity, abstract, and visual
thinking.
 Having a growth mindset ensures that those engaged with strategic business analysis are
perceptive and can proactively pick up the interdependencies and implications of these
changing components and incorporate these into the appropriate spheres of decision
making.
 A growth mindset enables learning from positive and negative results.
 This stimulates the development of further ideas that are creatively and critically
evaluated, thereby enabling continual improvement and innovation.
 Outcome focused thinking enables broad and lateral thinking and not getting stuck in the
problems.
 Outcome focused thinking provides avenues to move forward, derives the best solution
and generates the energy of the team to get a result.
Business Change Led Delivery
 Business change led delivery is transformation that is led and managed by business
leaders.
With business leading the change, the focus is on achieving business outcomes and building
organizational capabilities.
 The business leaders are the executive program sponsors and the day-to-day program
sponsor.
The program team is frequently situated with the business to enhance transfer of business tacit
knowledge.
 Strategic business analysis is vital for business change led delivery.
 Every business program begins with a sponsor who wants to achieve a business outcome.
This requires change.
 Business led delivery is about leading change to develop new core business capabilities,
whether product or services or capabilities and culture, for an organization.
Business led delivery is outcome focused and owned by the business.
 The business leads and can make informed and immediate decisions within the context of
the bigger picture and with an understanding of the relationships.
Strategic business analysis provides the foundations for business led delivery. It begins with a
clear definition of the core business problem, Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and
time-bounded (SMART) objectives, and statement of the business outcome. With these
definitions in mind, the high-level business requirements become reflective of the future state,
influencing the business case, procurement, and implementation stages.
Without a clearly defined business outcome, clear business objectives, and clarity of business
problem, the program may incur rework, delays, cost overruns, and the solution may reflect the
current state rather than the desired future state.
Business change led delivery begins with the business, defines the change, and then applies
delivery frameworks. The frameworks align to the context of the organization. Every program,
project, or task can deliver something, providing a positive or negative result. The framework for
business change is created by drawing on several methodologies. This helps to ensure that
individual methodologies are not the driver of approach and results to the business.
As resources in an organization are finite, business outcomes that are not achieved may have
significant implications for the organization, not only in terms of cost, but productivity, morale,
stakeholder value, and shareholder value.
Business change led delivery, focuses on people, partnerships, and organizational outcomes.
Strategic business analysis supports change led delivery by providing a clear and holistic view of
the change, the pain points, cultural implications, and a clear path to achieve the business
outcome. With this knowledge, the business will own the program and the outcome will be
successful.