05.05.11 - In this article Nick Lawrie, Managing Director of NDMC Ltd explains how Encanvas is re-defining the role of Business Analysts in the life-cycle of software applications development.

1. NDMC PRESS INFORMATION
How Encanvas is re-defining the Business Analyst role
5 May 2011, Oxford, UK – The release of Encanvas Secure&Live is likely to forever
change the role of business analysts as Nick Lawrie, Managing Director of NDMC
explains in this article.
“At one time business analysts were almost seen as the triage people for IT development teams. They were the people
that could understand business and make sense of processes; people with one foot in the business and the other in IT
able to bridge across the impermeable divide that exists in the enterprise between business and IT. They were also the
‘owners of the problem’ that developers were charged to fix with their software developments. So in many
organisations, business analysts became the well paid ‘good communicating’ bag carriers of the slightly higher paid
software developers who could sit in their back rooms and ‘just code’.
This narrowly scoped role of the business analyst is not likely to sustain. In an agile business era there is no room for
the heavy price of ‘discovery and learning’ in software development. Everyone knows that any learning exercise
necessarily requires mistake to be made (that is after-all how people learn) but the cost of learning and the economics
of failure are often so grim that organisations would rather pay a premium for ‘off-the-shelf’ solutions than risk project
over-runs. Neither is there sufficient budget to pay for teams of 2,4,6,8 or 10+ people to build database-centric portal
applications that employ a combination of forms, databases, reports, dashboards, maps, workflow and logic
components of varying degrees.
On the face of it, the choice seems to be (1) ‘outsource’ and risk losing control over your information systems or (2)
purchase ‘shrink-wrapped solutions’ that sound ideal on the face of it but promise the IT leader a legacy of integration
and data management issues down the line. But Web 2.0 Rich Internet Applications platforms like Encanvas
Secure&Live present a third way.
It was Klaus Hardy Mühleck, CIO of Audi AG, who in the early 2000’s pioneered a new way of embedding IT thinking
into organizational change teams by establishing the role of Process Improvement Managers in their ‘organisation
department’. What used to be a Business Analyst role mutated into people that were comfortable talking business and
IT that were charged with improving processes as an outcome rather than writing a specification. This subtle
realignment of role focus has made a big difference to operational effectiveness and has helped AUDI AG to sustain
continual improvement in processes.
But devolving IT responsibilities deeper into the business and to harness IT skills in a way that instils a sustained
improvement agenda is just one part of the story.
‘See-no-code’ (Web 2.0) Rich Internet Applications platforms like Encanvas - that include data mashups capabilities -
mean that business analysts can now be the hands-on authors of applications themselves to serve the long-tail of
demand for situational applications demanded by users in today’s information overloaded virtual office environment.
They don’t need the backroom coders.
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2. NDMC PRESS INFORMATION
Encanvas empowers business analysts (in their reshaped role as ‘process value and improvement managers’) to not
only to design applications for themselves but to SERVE THEMSELVES with the data they need from disparate sources;
to then securely and robustly deploy applications to a virtualized server environment. The impact of this change
means that the time, risks and costs associated with applications development are dramatically reduced and the wall
that has existed between business and IT becomes almost impossible to distinguish.
Using Encanvas business people can better understand what it is that’s being developed and this enables them to think
ahead about how the system might work, evolve, ‘fit’ the way their organisation and processes must work. The risks of
getting the wrong solution are completely removed because any changes to the application or its data relationships
can be iteratively made in conjunction with project sponsors.
Perhaps the biggest reward of using Encanvas goes to the humble business analyst who probably signed up to be an
analyst because he or she is a technology enthusiast and has a passion for improving the way organisations and
people work through the application – only to be the bag carrier for developers. This community of individuals, that
generally includes within its number many of the best creative IT minds found in organisations, now has the apparatus
to deliver business outcomes by applying technology in ways that fully express their skills-marriage of business and IT
know-how.”
Ends.
Established in 2012 and located in Marcham, Oxfordshire, NDMC is a multi-disciplinary information management consulting company. NDMC’s
technology team specialises in the design and delivery of web-based information management portals. The company serves public and private
sector organisations with web database (web portal software) solutions for information management that increase growth potential, cut operating
costs and improve productivity. We are the people behind www.encanvas.com and www.squork.com software innovations.
For more information visit www.ndmc.uk.com, contact NDMC on press@ndmc.uk.com or call (Europe) +44 1865 392150 (USA) +1 201 777 3398
Made in Britain
Squork is a trade name of NDMC Ltd. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! Are recognised trademarks and names of their respective owners.
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