Cherie Hoffmann gives a glimpse into what it’s like to be a Business Analyst at BGL Tech
As a Business Analyst, one of my responsibilities is to make sure the business and technical teams are aligned across various delivery workstreams. As the crucial link between the two, it’s my job to understand and translate business needs and requirements to our tech teams, which is pivotal in ensuring we’re creating the best experiences for our customers. Similarly, it’s my job to articulate any technical updates into language that the non-technical team members and business teams can understand. My colleague, Amanda, recently wrote about the value of Business Analysts in a separate post.
My day is fast-paced and filled with variety. It starts with a stand-up with the Delivery team where we discuss progress made so far and key deliverables for the day ahead. It’s at this point they’ll raise any issues, or notify me of any information they need from the business to progress. Following this, I’ll have meetings with relevant stakeholders across the business, where I’ll question and probe in a way which will help me understand the requirements and get the answers needed for the Tech team to progress. Once I’ve got that high-level understanding, I’ll refine those requirements into user stories, which the Delivery team will use to build a solution.
I thrive on problem solving, so this role is perfect for me. I love creating solutions, taking risk and commercial impact into consideration. As the link between the business and technical teams, I get to face into two very different roles, which keeps things interesting.
To be effective as a Business Analyst, you need to be a master at context switching. Communication skills are vital to this role, as you need to be able to communicate key messages appropriately to the right audience, whilst being confident and clear on what detail and information you need from key stakeholders. You need to be good at solving problems with the ability to think about solutions holistically. I love working in our Tech team and have learnt so much in my time here, from commercial acumen to technical detail.
I joined BGL 16 years ago, having heard it was a great place for those looking to explore different career opportunities — which definitely rang true. I’ve taken on several roles in my time here, from working in the Contact Centre, to becoming a System Tester, to moving to my current role as a Business Analyst, which I’ve done for nine years now. Nowadays, whilst still continuing to focus on my own progression, I also mentor aspiring BAs and graduates. I also make sure career development remains high on the agenda for my direct reports, and that they’re given the time and resource they need to develop themselves. In fact, one of my highlights over the past 12 months is promoting one of my direct reports, after watching them work really hard in filling in their knowledge gaps.
There’s many things that makes BGL Tech such a great place to work — career development being just one of them. BGL also offers a great flexible working package which, having two small children, has been invaluable to me and allowed me to have the right work-life balance and spend more time with my children whilst still delivering quality work.
