From Data Person to Change Agent: How Business Data Analysis Transformed My Work

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect the perspectives of IIBA.

I didn’t choose business data analysis—it chose me. 

Like many in data roles, I started out thinking clean reports and dashboards were the end goal. But in the rush of startup life, I realized something was missing: context. A dashboard without clarity wasn’t insight; it was noise. More than solving problems, I was uncovering blind spots and helping teams understand what the numbers were saying. 

That’s when it clicked that I wasn’t just an analyst. I was already practising business analysis. I just didn’t know what to call it. And once I did, everything changed.
 

The Moment It Hit Me: This Isn’t Just Data 

In my early days, I thought my role was to clean the data, write the perfect code, build reports, and make dashboards. But I started noticing something deeper. Every number on the dashboard represented someone’s struggle. Sales trying to hit their target, finance trying to recognize the revenue correctly, Ops trying to reduce costs, or Marketing trying to understand the campaigns (and so on).  

I realized my job wasn’t about making reports. It was about listening to what the data was whispering. That’s when I started to treat my role like a bridge between reporting data and delivering real insights people could act upon.

I began asking more questions, even the seemingly obvious ones. And I found that behind every misaligned dashboard or incomplete field or lack of workflow was a pain point someone hadn’t voiced yet. Some days, I’m knee-deep in SQL. Other days, I’m listening while a teammate vents that “the dashboard is broken,” when really the data hasn’t synced.

There are also days when my reports are perfectly accurate based on clean logic, clean data, and solid business rules but the results are still disappointing. Why? Because the team had hoped for a miracle, and what they got was reality. And that’s okay. That’s part of the role too—helping people move from assumptions to awareness, from frustration to understanding.  

I remember calls where department heads sighed and said, “I feel like this isn't telling a story.” They weren’t asking for a new dashboard. They just needed more clarity from the existing dashboard—a better story!  

So we sat together. I walked them through what the dashboard really showed, asked them what they needed from it, and tried to bridge the gap by simply adding clear descriptions or tweaking report labels to match their understanding. And yes, sometimes it really is that simple. Just listen. Don’t react. Simply respond and improve. 

Other times, I misunderstood the requirement. I built a clean, logical report that made sense to me but missed the mark for the team. Instead of brushing it off, I paused, asked better questions, and we brainstormed a new approach. That’s the beauty of this work. It keeps you learning. It’s growth! 

I’ve had my share of difficult conversations too and moments where I disagreed with senior management or felt misunderstood. But those moments never stopped me from circling back with humility and asking again, “What do you need? How can I make this more valuable for you?” Because that’s what business data analysis is all about—not merely solving problems but staying present enough to care. 

Insights: The Small Things That Change Everything 

The word “insights” sounds big, but it’s often just small things done right. It’s noticing patterns others overlook, asking the obvious questions that no one has stopped to ask, or just connecting the dots between departments that haven’t spoken in weeks. 

For example, we often talk about how full the sales pipeline is, but the real question is, how much of it can we actually win? To help answer that, we created three simple but powerful reports.  

• The first one shows the month-end pipeline stage snapshot. It’s basically where every deal is sitting by the end of the month. It helped us see which deals were moving forward and where things were stuck.
• The second report looked at the conversion rates of the deals that closed in the last six months and traced their journey through each stage. This helped us understand what a “typical win %” looked like and where we usually lost deals.
• Then came the third report and probably the most eye-opening. We combined the current pipeline with conversion rates from the second report to estimate what portion of the pipeline is winnable.  

What golden insights did we get?  

• Not all pipeline stages contribute equally and some had consistently low conversions, prompting coaching or process fixes
• The team was overestimating win potential by looking only at total pipeline value or going by their gut
• Post-analysis, Sales started focusing efforts on high-converting stages and prioritized deals with better historical success rates
• Leadership gained clarity on what the current pipeline is truly worth, enabling smarter goal-setting and resource planning

These insights weren’t earth-shattering, but they changed how we planned, prioritized, and pushed forward. It’s not always a breakthrough. Often, it’s putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and asking, “Why would this work for them and what can we do to add value?” 

Prediction With Purpose: Seeing the Future by Understanding the Now 

As analysts, we’re often asked to “predict the future.” But real prediction isn’t a magic trick. It’s noticing the undercurrents, understanding behaviours, and catching the quiet signals before they become loud alarms. 

I’ve learned that business growth doesn’t come from staring at a dashboard. It comes from asking what that dashboard isn’t showing. For instance, when a BDR team spends hours chasing leads that never convert, or when MQLs spike after a marketing campaign but not a single SQL follows, it’s not a lead problem. It’s a misalignment problem.

And if we don’t hit pause to diagnose that early, it becomes a sales problem. That’s why we need to build stories into reports, not just numbers.  

Start looking at the customer journeys, time-to-engagement after sign-up, how quickly support tickets are raised for issues, what usage patterns signal churn, and which features actually influence renewals or upgrades. Suddenly, you’ll feel that you’re using numbers to shape a smarter strategy rather than reacting to them. 

Even something as simple as correlating MRR dips with feature inactivity can clarify which customer to contact before a cancellation happens. This goes beyond “retention reporting.” This is foresight. Empathy, backed by logic.  

And that’s what real trendspotting is. Recognizing that behind every metric is a moment in motion. When we bring heart to our analysis and zoom out just enough to spot the movement, prediction becomes less about forecasting and more about preparing our teams to meet the future confidently. It ultimately leads to better processes and scope for improvement, not chaos. 

Everyone Has Insights to Offer 

You don’t need a fancy title to make an impact. You don’t need to build the next great algorithm or run a dozen dashboards a day. Sometimes, all it takes is noticing how someone struggles with a tool, hearing the hesitation in a conversation, or simply asking, “What are you looking for?” 

That’s where change begins. From being the go-to data person to stepping into the shoes of a change agent, my journey has been shaped not just by numbers but by nuance. Business data analysis gave me the space (and courage) to ask the uncomfortable questions: 

• Why does this matter?
• Who is struggling silently?
• What’s not being said?

And in doing so, I slowly shifted how I show up (fixing problems and helping reframe them). These four principles have become my grounding compass: 

• Ask better questions
• Stay curious, not reactive
• Listen more than I speak
• Visualize before I verbalize 

So wherever you are on your own journey—analyst, designer, builder, thinker—know this: every small insight, if given with care, can spark something far bigger.

That’s the real power of business data analysis. 

Interested in data analysis? The Certification in Business Data Analytics (IIBA-CBDA) recognizes your ability to effectively execute analysis-related work in support of business analytics initiatives. Get certified today.  

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