This is a great question.
No two businesses are completely alike. To add value to the business you work in, it's important to have a clear view of where their IT systems are at, where they need to be, and help them move toward that goal.
This is going to be different for each company. And it's not what you "know is best" for that company's systems. It's going to be decided upon by the CIO or whoever is in charge. But you will help arrive at the decision based on your findings and input.
You need to:
- Understand what an information system is, what it allows a business to do and why it's vital to it's success. Did you know that a filing cabinet with folders is an information system? Post-it notes are too. Paper systems can be very inefficent at times, but are still in wide use. Do you know why? Having a great deal of experience in different companies in different industries goes a long way to obtaining this understanding. If you have an IT consulting background, you'll do great as a systems analyst.
- Have an ongoing, updated understanding of all information systems out there. Study and understand the usefullness of each. Know what has been used in the past, what is widely in use now and have a firm grasp of all the new technology in development. Know the pros and cons of all systems. You need to set up your own information system about information systems to do this. An aggregator like google reader is good. Subscribe to the latest tech news. Not just systems news but gadgets and devices too. When you factor in the benefits of a cloud based system, mobile devices become a very real part of your system.
- Understand what is involved in the implementation / rollout and lifecycle of all the systems out there. Know what it takes to roll out a Sharepoint site accross an enterprise. Understand how long it takes to impliment google apps for a large enterprise and what training is needed. What does it take to move a sales team from a rolodex card farm to a salesforce.com system. How easy is it to move web developers from using whiteboards to asana or trello. Which will fit better? Is there another system out there that better fits the department? Which brings me to a vital step:
- Pervade the existing scene at the business you are working for. KNOW everything that they are doing NOW. Before any suggestions or guidance is given, you need to understand what got the business where it is today. You'll need to document the current business process as the first part of your analysis. You need to know what your dealing with. Have meetings and interview managers to record how they get their information. But make this a part of your ongoing job. You will need feedback after new implementations and meetings will always be needed to provide this. Which brings us to:
- Have excellent communication skills and some customer service / sales experience under your belt. You are going to be making some interesting discoveries and finding a ton of improvements that could be made. You will need to be communicating your findings to executives in weekly or even daily meetings. I already mentioned interviewing managers in the last step, but you'll want to have really good communication in these meetings and make as many friends as you can along the way. Your findings and suggestions for improvement or change need to be sold and acted upon for your position to be valuable.
- Make friends in High places. There is a very serious political risk to your career if you are new and you come in and suggest changes to a system that has been in place for a long time. There are people who don't want to change. The innocent ones want to work in comfort and don't want to have to learn new ways of doing things. They have their reasons for printing every email they get and holding them while they read. But then there are others who will try to go so far as to discredit your work or intentions because they are afraid. An excellent information system will create one version of the truth across an organization. If you have an old manager who isn't clean about the figures he has been reporting to the CEO for years, you can quickly become a target. Office politics can get messy. Really get to know the guys at the top. Build up enough good will for yourself and you'll come out ok.
- Think out of the box. Don't just buy every bit of information you hear. Make your own decision if you think something is useful for accomplishing the goal. Your ideas of new and more efficient ways of making information accessible could be the next big thing. When you have an Idea, search for it out there and see if any groups exist with a similar vision. Talk with them. Talk to other analysts. Network and discuss solutions with your peers. You may be surprised at what you find. As an analyst, you're not being hired to go along with the same old way it's been done for years. The competiton isn't doing that. Your ideas can make a business scaleable in ways it wasn't
There's one last thing that isn't really a step or a skill, but something you should do at all times.
Know your purpose at all times.
Keep it in mind. Information systems can be very tedious and technical at the database level. Don't get stuck in the technical aspects of a system. A general needs to stay on top of the hill to see the battle and can't get stuck in the trenches. You need to keep the big picture in mind.
Find the best solution that efficently gets information to everyone so they can make quick, data driven, decisions based on the truth. A company that can make quick, informed decisions, is a company that can take fast action to expand. Efficent information systems make this a reality. That's what you do.
What steps do I have to take before I become an IT systems analyst?
