Friday, April 20, 2018

Can you survive Industry 4.0 without Business Analysts?


In 2008, after 12 years in engineering at Whirlpool Corp, I transitioned to an analyst role with Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN).  I did not have deep technical knowledge of SAP or any ERP for that matter.  I did not have deep subject matter expertise in infant formula or any other process industry.  My education was in electrical, not chemical engineering.  I did not have my MBA and I had no clue that I had just spent the first decade of my career in functions that were part of supply chain. Ten years ago, I could not have an intelligent debate on the details, merits, or opportunities for supply chain and supply chain management!  Business intelligence, analysis and analytics provided a path to what has become an incredibly fulfilling adventure.

I was lucky; the MJN planning director bought into Gartner’s recommendation that “Being able to write good SQL doesn’t make someone a good business analyst.” Furthermore, she believed that I had solid transferrable skills that would provide a great base to leverage data and insights to create business process improvements.  In the interest of transparency, I was not devoid of basic analysis skills.  With a formal education as an electrical engineer (Minor in math!) and a six-sigma black belt, I had a solid foundation in data, data, and more data.  Did I understand statistics? Sure.  Could I perform a regression analysis? Of course.  More importantly, I recognized the importance of capturing, reviewing/sanitizing, grouping/categorizing, communicating, and modeling, i.e. building scenarios / predicting outcomes.

I am not a data scientist, but I am an information provocateur.  As we enter the fourth phase of the industrial revolution, aka Industry 4.0, the unification or blending of the physical, digital, and biological realm necessitates data connoisseurs, like me, throughout the business, charged with championing better leverage and data utilization for quantifying, controlling, and optimizing the enterprise.  Supply Chain is uniquely focused on the space where digital meets physical and most companies do not need PhDs embedded in their organization to reap benefits.  We need business analysts, folks who display comfort in complex environments that can consume, employ, and thrive in the ambiguity of the undiscovered and unfamiliar.

There is a reason that STEM starts with Science and ends in Math.  You cannot have Technology, Engineering, or Digitalization without these fundamental drivers.  Success in Industry 4.0 requires assimilation of STEM into the company DNA and business analysts from diverse backgrounds with broad experience and a passion for exploring are the foundation.  With a modicum of quantitative analytical skill combined with excellent communication, a business analyst can connect the brilliant data scientist to the adept business executive and achieve unparalleled results.

Victory in the Digital Age requires a new approach.  Do we need deep subject matter expertise to run our ERP system? Of course.  But, does everyone we hire need 3 to 5 years of experience in our specific application?  Do we need a fundamental understanding of the industry in which we operate? Absolutely.  With that said, perhaps, an analyst or two from a different sector can provide new and exciting insights, processes or methodologies.  Must all of our analysts reside in IT or should we embed a few within the business? By remaining flexible and focusing more on candidates that demonstrate a basic passion for exploration and learning and less on checking the box for a specific degree, work history, or experience, we enrich our corporate DNA and ensure triumph.
Christine (Reed) Barnhart 

REFERENCES
Schlegel, K. (2011, June 16). Tutorial: Business Analyst Job Description (Tech.). Retrieved April 19, 2018, from Gartner website: https://www.gartner.com

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