Hot Jobs: Business Analyst
Business analysts study the overall business and information needs of an organization in order to develop solutions to business and related technology problems. Business analysts are the liaison between technology staff and management. A business analyst's role is usually undertaken prior to the system design, building and programming stages of the systems development process.
Employment
Business analysts held about 487,000 jobs in 2004; about 28,000 were self-employed. The greatest concentration of these workers is in the computer systems design and related services industry. Business analysts are also employed by governments, insurance companies, financial institutions, Internet service providers, data processing services firms, and universities.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a large number of business analysts are employed on a temporary or contract basis. For example, a company installing a new computer system may need the services of several analysts just to get the system running. Because not all of the analysts would be needed once the system is functioning, the company might contract for such employees with a consulting firm. Such jobs may last from several months up to 2 years or more. This allows companies to bring in people with the exact skills they need to complete a project, instead of having to spend time and money training or retraining existing workers.
Job Outlook According to the BLS
Employment of business analysts is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2014 as organizations continue to adopt and integrate increasingly sophisticated technologies. Job increases will be driven by very rapid growth in computer system design and related services, which is projected to be among the fastest growing industries in the U.S. economy. In addition, many job openings will arise annually from the need to replace workers who move into managerial positions or other occupations or who leave the labor force. Job growth will not be as rapid as during the previous decade, however, as the information technology sector begins to mature and as routine work is increasingly outsourced to lower-wage foreign countries.
Increasingly, more sophisticated and complex technology is being implemented across all organizations, which should fuel the demand for these computer occupations. There is a growing demand for system analysts to help firms maximize their efficiency with available technology. Expansion of electronic commerce—doing business on the Internet—and the continuing need to build and maintain databases that store critical information on customers, inventory, and projects are fueling demand for database administrators familiar with the latest technology.
