IIBA® Salary Survey Highlights, AI Shifts, and the Truth About Remote Work
Thoughts about the future of Business Analysis in light of AI coming to pass and a personal view of the reality of remote working.
Dear Reader,
This week I am excited to write about:
The surprises I found in the IIBA® 2023 Global State of Business Analysis Survey
The impact AI will have on Business Analysis, why are no one listening?
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Remote Working
I hope you enjoy it! I look forward to reading your comments below.
📊 Spotlight Article: IIBA® 2023 Global State of Business Analysis Survey
I took the IIBA® 2023 Global State of Business Analysis survey this week and thought that I would share my experience with you here.
It took me about 10 minutes to complete and overall, I found it to be comprehensive in its coverage. It had a few questions where I felt the options provided were a little unaligned and in a way duplicated, but I suspect this is to cater for people using different terminology to describe the same things…(this was odd though coming from the IIBA who are particular about terminology).
Perhaps you can take the survey and see if you pick this up too?
I would encourage you to take the survey. The more data points they have the better they can inform us on career trends and current salary averages. Both of those insights are very valuable to all of us!
Take the survey here: IIBA Survey
Are we being blind to the impact of AI on Business Analysis?
The IIBA® 2023 Global State of Business Analysis Survey had one question that I believe is quite a loaded question! The question was:
What would you answer?
Firstly, I am curious to know what the IIBA® would do with the answer to this question because regardless of what the answer is, it is an important issue that should be at the forefront of every Business Analyst’s mind and the profession as a whole...
I presented at an AI webinar a few months ago where I shared an interesting piece of work Goldman Sacks did on the impact of AI and the future of our careers as knowledge workers.
I was a little surprised at the muted response I received…however, I will include the same study here because I think it is important for everyone to listen to and use it to help yourself to start pivoting your career to be more future ready.
The time has come for us to apply our critical thinking skills and try to plan a future direction where we can still work and be of value alongside the changes AI is introducing into our corporate lives…
I believe AI will have a noteworthy impact on our roles as Business Analysts and unless we actively start to be prepared for this, some parts of our current skillsets might become obsolete or diminish in the value it brings to the organisation.
“My view is that we must redirect our careers towards the skills and abilities that AI cannot easily replace instead of blindly focussing on our hard (technical) skills that AI is actively being implemented to replace. Learn to develop and use those non-AI (replaceable) skills alongside the AI capabilities being implemented..”
Many of us are in fact helping to implement the AI solutions that will replace those same technical skills we are using, in the not-so-distant future.
It might sound like I am against the AI revolution; I am not at all.
I am excited by it, but I feel concerned that we are not planning and redirecting ourselves to be ready for this new type of future that is coming towards us right now.
We must spend time now to adjust our thinking, our career direction and go into the future with our eyes as open as what is possible with what we know now.
The scope of this change is so vast that it is not an easy thing to fully understand or be able to completely plan for…but we must try.
Take one step at a time and start by watching this video by Oli Sharpe – it is a great synopsis based on research by Goldman Sacks about which types of jobs will be most heavily impacted by the AI changes.
🔗 Recommended Links
IIBA® Salary Survey 2023: https://rb.gy/6uqtq
YouTube Link: https://rb.gy/opnw7
Whitepaper: The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth (Briggs/Kodnani):https://rb.gy/5x6x1
🌍 Remote Work Spotlight: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
To shift gears to a more recent change that we are all embracing to some degree, remote working. There are huge benefits to being able to work remotely but there are some drawbacks too. Let’s have a look at what I refer to here as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly side of remote working.
The Good
I love working remotely. I love the freedom of being in a space of my choice while I am working and I also love the extra time it gives me in my day, time I would have spent on the road to an office in the past. I am a creature that craves freedom, flexibility, and quiet time, so this is why remote working is perfect for me.
The Bad
There are a few things that I didn’t foresee when I started working remotely fulltime. One of the primary things is that it is less connected, close, or intimate when it comes to working with others. You are more distant, behind your virtual wall of technology and it means that some of the intangible, yet vital togetherness energy of our office worker colleagues is somewhat lessened. Despite sometimes complaining about work colleagues, this disconnected style of working can also leave a gap at times, even a type of yearning to have in-person time in the office...
Have you ever felt like that?
The Ugly
There is also an ugly side of course. If you don’t have a team that supports you as a remote worker, you can feel quite isolated. Some people feel isolated quite quickly and others might take a bit longer, but regardless feelings of isolation can be very demoralising which can lead to more serious emotional and mental challenges.
🔗 Quick Links
Here is a great read I’ve discovered that helps remote workers adapt to that change. It is well worth having a look at!
Read here: The Conversation
💌 Reader's Corner
Please share your views and ideas about AI, Business Analysis and your experiences of remote working. I would love to hear your thoughts!
🔔 Closing Thoughts
So this week was my moment to remind everyone about the elephant in the room, aka AI. Whilst I am super excited about the potential capabilities and new use cases, it is essential that we all take some time to understand the bigger picture and specifically inform ourselves about the potential career impacts this might have…and plan for that.
I flourish as a remote worker, and cannot be happier but even I have experienced feelings of disconnectedness (is that a word?) and want to include it as a topic of interest for our future posts and discussions.
Have a great weekend and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing your comments.
Until next week,
Esta from Beyond the Byte
❤️ You can find more about my work here…
Business Analysis Excellence - I love to help transform careers into Business Analysis and work with teams to deliver projects.