1. Business Analysis Trend – From BAWI 2013 – Business Analysis Workshop Italy
2013 – October 2013 – Part 1 (Next Part 2)
Helping Business Do Business Better - From Practioner To Practioner
(Prassede Colombo, IIBA Italy Chapter President, CEO PMProgetti )
BAWI is the annual exclusive workshop in Italy dedicated to professionals and managers in
organizations that deal with Business Analysis. BAWI 2013 allowed us to evaluate the results of the
Business Analysis applications and how the organizations are applying it and develop skills to
define the right solutions at the right time. In brief, we have understood the evolution of the
Business Analyst Role to support business value and change.
During the presentations, discussions and the round table the organizations and the participants
have acquired the awareness of the existing competencies, the needed hard and soft skills to
better perform Business Analysis in a Professional way. In this article I would like to share with the
reader the outcomes and the most significant Case Studies presented during the conference.
The article will be divided in two parts. The First Part will introduce the main topic: Business
Analysis Competencies for Innovation and Change through the IIBA Vision and Telecom Italia
practices. We will respond to the question: How the Business Analysis help organizations to
respond to changes?
The Second Part (next article) will report how companies are applying Business Analysis to
support their core business functions and their organizational assets to deliver value to the
customers. We will also consider the main required soft skill to be “the liaison” among
stakeholders and to get stakeholders buy in, engage and manage the emotional side for the
reaction to change.
Main Outcomes of the BAWI 2013 workshop
“Business Analysis supplies the indispensable skills and capabilities to all organizations to
innovate and implement the necessary changes for creating value and succeed in the current
international context.”
During the workshop we answered to some Key questions.
Why Business Analysis?
Organizations needs BA to:
•
Deliver Value to Organization
Helping to produce the right solution, doing the right work (and not
doing well the wrong work) - How can we provide the best
solution?
Understanding actual needs and business value to bias the most
effective solution for the organization - What is the business value?
BA Competencies are key to understand business problems, identify
opportunities and stakeholders in the context of the requirements
•
Respond to change
Thinking different, transform organization, manage change, understand the customer
needs and deliver before they ask - How can we do business differently? How can
business needs be transformed in delivered solutions?

2. BA Competencies are key to recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its
goals.
Key Note Speaker – “The Future of the Business Analyst: from Competencies to
Value for the Organization” - Michele Maritato, Global Director of IIBA, VP Education of IIBA
Italy Chapter, VP Organization PMI-NIC, Partner PMProgetti
“We are living in a fast changing world, where velocity and adaptability represent the highest
value of an organization, and technologies are the engine of this change. Our reality is global, it
spreads outside the classical borders, communication channels increase, we must learn how to
interact with different cultures, in different languages. As Business Analysts we are called to
embrace this fast change, the value of globalism, and to make it sustainable for the future
generations”. How is the role of Business Analyst changing in this scenario? What competencies
are Business Analysts demanded to have in the future? How is the Business Analysis discipline
influencing the organization?
What is the role of the Business Analysis for driving the change?
Today changes are very rapid, happen globally, involving different countries and cultures and
must be sustainable. So the organizations need to understand the reality around them, to define
in which direction they must change, and how.
Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organizational context by defining
needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders (BABOK Guide V 3.0).
In this new context, the challenges for the “new” Business Analysis professionals are to:
Understand the REALITY around the organizations
Define the CHANGE PROCESS
LEAD and DOMINATE the change process
The Business Analyst understands business problems and
opportunities in the business context and recommends solutions that
enable the organization to achieve its goals. He works as a liaison
among stakeholder to define requirements for changes. (BABOK Guide
V 2.0)
The new professionals are requested to develop skills in Business
Analysis (to understand the needs), Project Management (to
dominate the change process) and Leadership (to influence the change). These tree disciplines
are interconnected,
and it is very easy to
find areas that overlap
among them.
A business analyst is
any person who
performs business
activities, no matter
what is his
organizational role. BA

3. can be positioned at different levels of the organization, supporting strategy definition, alignment
and information at Enterprise level; defining, delivering and supporting change at Function level;
supporting projects or operations (See Figure).
IIBA® Business Analysis Competency Model (V3.0) help the organization to assess the
performance competencies using a matrix that considers 3 Role categories: Generalist, Specialist
and Hibrid and 3 Focus context within the Organization: Project/Process/Service Continuous
Improvement; Department/Business Function Transformation; Enterprise. This model can be used
to define the BA roles in an organization.
What do the Business stakeholders say about Business Analysis?
.«… selling is now about business process improvement….….. 70% of the current IT sales force will
not be able to make the transition» - Tiffani Bova - Worldwide Sales Strategy – Gartner
«More than 50% of the causes of failure of ICT projects is attributable to a lack of Business
Analysis activities» - Standish Group
“The companies that succeed are those most open to gather input coming from the outside and
understand critical changes in the market, solving the challenges and discovering emerging
opportunities. The customer is becoming a kind of real business consultant. The information
obtained from customers become useful for the development of new products, but also for the
determination of their price and for the planning of social and environmental policies …”
(www.repubblica.it/economia/rapporti/cloudeconomy/2013/10/09/news/i_clienti_diventano_i_consulenti_del_business68231182/)
“The cloud has enabled us to optimize the costs of hardware and software and to allocate
resources to innovative solutions, with the result of a streamlining of our processes and simplify
the daily work. ……. we introduced new lines for Morocco and Tunisia: two realities that we do not
do not know. So, our effort has been to understand this type and to do this, we need to get more
resources and in this sense the cloud can give us a hand” (Paolo Beatini, CIO “Grandi Navi Veloci)
Today organizations are using Business Analysis to change while staying in sync with the external
environment. Often the organizations are not aware that the BA exists as a profession, with a well
defined approach, though they need and they are looking for the Business Analysis competencies
to transform them and react to the change. Often they have Business Analysts but they don't
know how to develop the BA culture. Internationally we are seeing the growth of the BA
competencies and responsibilities and the creation of BA Centers of Excellence in the
organizations.
“The Role of the Project Business Manager in the Cloud evolution” - Filippo Dall’Olio,
Mirella Marcocci, Project Business Managers, PMO Telecom Italia
“The cloud revolution is changing business models and roles. Telecom Italia experience to
integrate project management and business analysis competencies and methodology to sustain
the new models and the required change to achieve the business value.”
Today is the era of the digital industry in which: “Cloud, social collaboration, mobile connectivity
and Internet of things are the pillars of the revolution. Every company is a technological company.
Every budget becomes an ICT budget. The traditional strategy for the competition is changed: the
strategy channel, the sales force and the ecosystem of partners have now different business
systems. Traditional Value Chain is changing. Companies, that will implement the new strategy for

4. the first, will be able to conquer the leadership and to remove competitors”. - Peter Sondergaard –
Vice President of Gartner and Global Head of Research
In response to market needs it has been noticed that the Cloud Computing paradigm is
transforming the concept of IT infrastructure: no longer just a cost center for companies but a
service support to the business.
In Italy, the most authoritative observers (Netconsulting-Assinform, Polytechnic, IDC Cloud
Observatory) estimate that the public cloud market for 2013 will be around 250 million with
estimated growth of 23% per year.
The cloud is transforming the entire corporate organizations which must adapt to new models,
with a redefinition of internal processes and procedures of data processing management.
Organizations need a new management, prepared and able to seize the potentials and to adapt
the operating mode of their business to the cloud.
So organizations need to rapidly understand their Customers/Business needs, to find the right
solution and then design and implement it. To do that, Business Analysis and Project
Management skills are the answer.
Business Analysts (BA) are responsible for:
the analysis of the problems and the identification of the optimal solution within the
business case;
the identification of business, stakeholder and solution requirements, ensuring that the
solution will be built in accordance with the desired business value;
the validation of the deployed solution, monitoring it in field, guaranteeing the
effectiveness of the solution for the business.
In a project a BA reports to the Project Manager who is accountable for:
the delivery of the results of the project
initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing the project
the coordination of project team effort for the implementation and the release of the
solution to the customer, on-time and on-budget
the team management, monitoring and risk mitigation, communication with stakeholders
Telecom Italia understood the importance of BA & PM competencies within the company, in
order to be able both to understand actual customer needs, and to propose solutions that allow
them to add business value, competitive advantages, reducing cost using better resources, and to
better manage the implementation of the solution
guaranteeing the alignment to the business goals. Four
years ago, through a Change Management Program,
Telecom Italia decided to develop BA competencies for
their Project Management Professional (PMP). Then
they adopted the BABOK Guide and they accelerate on
the CBAP Certification in order to increase BA skills and

5. knowledge. It was introduced the role of “ Project Business Manager (PBM)”: BA&PM all in one
person (No - One BA and One PM) – The “Hibrid Category: BA/PM “of the IIBA® Business Analysis
Competency Model (V3.0).
This is the Telecom Italia's Model: The
Business Analysis efforts are maximum at
the start up to elicit the Business Needs,
perform GAP analysis, define Solutions,
elaborate Business Cases. Telecom
Professionals work with Customers to find
the right solution and sign contracts. Then
when the Project Charter is issued and the
project begins, the same BA Professional
becomes the Project Manager. He
manages the project and coordinates the
team to implement the solution. His effort
for Project Management is maximum for
planning, executing, monitoring the project. During the execution BA competencies helps to
guarantee the alignment of the designed and deployed solution to the requirements, supporting
scope, change, quality, risk, time, cost and communication management. At the end of the project
the duty of the project manager is terminated, the BA validates the solution, monitor it, and
measure the results in field against the KPI of the initial Business Case. If necessary he will
ultimately identify possible
corrective actions. In Telecom
Italia the new BA/PM
professional figures are the best
resources to handle the most
complex projects. They are
engaged in situations of great
complexity and for key
customers. They are using an
integrated approach for Project
Management, Business Analysis and Financial Analysis. Along the way, Telecom Italia identified
the best resources and invested on their growth. The new professionals have participated to
international training, developing soft skill and hard skills and getting recognized qualifications
and certifications as PMP, CBAP, Cloud Academy. They are increasing the chances of success and
the value created for the company through the customers satisfaction and new contracts.
Now the Project Business Managers are recognized by the company and by the market as key
resources since they are able to drive and sustain the change by creating experiences that
transform people, systems and organizations.
First Round Table - Outcomes
During the First Round Table we discussed with Key Business Stakeholders and we found out that
organizations in order to respond to the change are looking for BA competencies, even if both
Business Analysis discipline and Business Analyst role are not always known. Anyway they are
working to improve their capabilities to understand the market, problems, opportunities and
identify the actual business needs. All the organizations need to start from people, investing in
their competencies and skills through the training, coaching; to define roles and responsibilities,
BA processes methodology, integrating BA in the organization procedures, quality and/or in the

6. Project Management processes. We have discovered that: organizations that are mature in
Project Management have more awareness of the relevance of the BA for the success;
organizations need Business Analyst in the Core Functions of their Business.
Enel Energia, is already aware of the relevance of the BA competencies and for this reason has
started a training program for selected employee from Business functions and from IC Tin order to
improve their performance on Business Analysis and Requirement Analysis, making reference to
the International practices of the BABOK Guide and promoting the CBAP certification.
Reply Consulting believes that the competencies of business analysis are fundamental to give
value to the customers and has developed a methodology to evaluate needs and perform analysis
for linking the strategic objectives to an appropriate set of KPI’s in order to better support
Management in Decision Making.
i-Fiber (Member of Unicredit) needs to perform enterprise analysis to define the solutions and the
business case to sustain the portfolio management. They introduced project management and
portfolio management and they have realized that there was something missing: the phase of the
definition of the real business need, the assessment of the capability gaps, the definition of the
solution approach and scope, the elaboration of the business case. During the workshop they have
understood that this is “the Enterprise Analysis” (BABOK Guide) and that it should be integrated
in their portfolio and project management methodology. They also need to engage the Business
Stakeholders. Business Analysis, Business Analyst as liaison among stakeholder are what they
are looking for.
NIS has already launched BA training and the CBAP Certification for the consultants because the
Professionalism is considered the Key Driver for the Business Development. It allows to satisfy
customers and get more opportunities, to talk the language of the clients, understanding better
their business needs, finding the best solution for them.
In Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, they are doing research on complexity of projects, to find
ways increasing the chances of project success, and understanding the skills, techniques and
tasks provided by Business Analysis body of knowledge towards that goal. The current uncertain,
fast changing, volatile market place requires change driven approaches in order to deal with
complexity and chaos. The traditional planning methodologies often fall short in such a situation
when they don’t keep up with the pace of the evolving customers' needs, and changes in business
requirements.
PMI-NIC and IIBA Italy Chapter in the last three years, have already shared the experiences on
the relationship between the Project Manager and Business Analyst, talking about "PM and BAThe dynamic duo" and showing how the collaboration between PM and BA is fundamental for
the success of the projects. IIIBA Italy Chapter explained the BABOK Guide to the PM and BA
Communities, showing synergy, overlap and how BABOK Guide and PMBOK Guide may be
mutually complementary. A collaboration is started and next year we are launching a joint project
on this topic.
In the Next Article - Part II - “How to get Quality Management System Objective Applying BA
Methodologies!” - Alessandro Rogora – Gruppo Reti
Share how Gruppo Reti is applying the BA methodologies to improve quality system efficacy
(meeting customers’ business needs) and efficiency (focusing on activities that guarantee value for
Customer and Organization) to get business objectives

7. “Business Analysis in Insurance – the Antifraud Unit” - Sergio Besana – Insurance, Luigi
Pantarotto – SAS Italy
Understanding the business challenge of frauds for the insurance business, the antifraud business
unit and the importance of Business Analysis in such context: project vs process BA initiatives and
business solutions investment justification via a sample business case.
“How to Find the Appropriate Set of KPI’s to Support Management in Decision Making:An
Integrated Approach” - Marco Cossutta – Reply Consulting
“Lessons learned from Reply’s experience in assessing and evolving Management Information
System. Using Enterprise Analisys techniques to align Strategy with Performance Management.
“Business Analysis and Tree Climbing: the Connection” - Oludayo Awe – President of IIBA®
Nigeria Chapter
Managing stakeholders in a complex and unstable environment. Share practical survival skills for
business analysts in a complex environment to survey and get a solution.
“Business Analyst, Project Manager and Emotional Buy-in” - Fabrizio Bolle – GE Global Growth &
Operations
How BA and PM can properly perform business analysis and manage a project bearing in mind the
change it will bring to the people , to leverage the emotional side of human nature, applying
practical approaches and models.
Sources PART I
BABOK Guide V 2.0
Welcome – Introduction to BAWI 2013 – Prassede Colombo, President of the IIBA® Italy Chapter,
Partner PMProgetti
“The Future of the Business Analyst: from Competencies to Value for the Organization” - Michele
Maritato, Global Director of IIBA®, VP Education of IIBA® Italy Chapter, VP Organization PMI-NIC®,
Partner PMProgetti
“The Role of the Project Business Manager in the Cloud evolution” - Filippo Dall’Olio, Mirella
Marcocci – Project Business Manager, PMO Telecom Italia
See BAWI 2013 Presentations (in English) http://www.slideshare.net/IIBA-IT