What Global Business Analysts Are Seeing Right Now
From Business Analysis Live! by International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)
June 9, 2026 · 52 min · Season 5 · Episode 11
About this episode
The episode explores insights from global business analysts on the evolving role of business analysis and the impact of AI in the field.
What's really happening in business analysis around the world — and what does it mean for you?I sat down with Fabricio Laguna — the Brazilian BA and Senior Advisor to the IIBA President — fresh off a global listening tour where he interviewed ten senior business analysis professionals from every continent. (Spoiler: none of them had the title "Business Analyst.") What he heard will make you rethink what it means to be a senior BA, where AI is actually showing up in BA work, and why the profession might be its own best-kept secret.We covered a lot of ground in this one. Fabricio broke down how business analysis looks wildly different depending on the industry — from manufacturing to banking to ERP implementation — and why that's not a bug, it's the whole point. We talked about the soft skills vs. hard skills debate (and why it's a false choice), what makes someone a senior BA versus just an experienced one, and how the dance analogy actually explains career development better than most frameworks. And of course, AI came up. Not in the "will it take your job" way — nobody Fabricio interviewed believes that — but in the more important question: are BAs just using…
People in this episode
Guest: Fabricio Laguna
Topics covered
- global business analysis
- AI in business analysis
- senior business analyst roles
- industry variations in business analysis
- soft skills vs hard skills
- career development in business analysis
Keywords
- business analysis
- senior BA
- AI
- industry differences
- soft skills
- hard skills
- career development
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: International Institute of Business Analysis
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