Inside IIBA: Key Updates and What’s Ahead

Welcome back to The Corner!

As we prepare for two key activities in the coming months—IIBA’s Annual General Meeting for members next week and the new Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA) launch in late July—I wanted to share a few IIBA “family” updates.  While our planned guest column on business analysis for AI will now appear in the next edition, there’s plenty to discuss in this one.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to listen and learn extensively with our community. I’ve summarized a few of my thoughts on this toward the end of this update.

Annual General Meeting: A Look at IIBA’s Growth and Future

Every June, our Board of Directors holds the Annual General Meeting to conduct the official business of IIBA as a professional association. As a member, you’re invited to participate in this. We’ll table our independent external auditor’s report on our financial affairs and share some other governance-related updates. If you’re able to register and join us on June 3, please do!

In 2024, we completed another year of strong engagement across all three of our main activities: membership, partner programs, and certifications. We’ve been actively investing in building IIBA’s capabilities across each of these areas since 2021, as I’ve shared at previous AGMs. These include support resources for our global communities and modern technology platforms to improve our operational effectiveness and serve our stakeholders more productively. And over the last four years, we've been encouraged by more than 30% growth in both membership and revenue. 

We’ve also taken deliberate steps to make IIBA more accessible to our global community, such as removing the IIBA membership application fee in 2022 and the ECBA exam application fee in 2023. The completion of the new chapter digital platform in 2024 marked the end of major investment work, at least for now. We have no material capital or investment commitments planned for 2025. Instead, we’re focused on enhancing the KnowledgeHub and renewing our certification portfolio (see below). Naturally, this investment has caused a reduction in IIBA's accumulated surplus. But as many of you will understand, being a not-for-profit means our surplus should be reinvested for the good of the community. IIBA is in a sound financial position and the free cash position of our organization remains strong, with appropriate cash and reserve levels maintained to support financial health.

I’m grateful to our Board for their active support of our strategy to increase investment during this period. They have been immensely helpful as we worked through how best to deploy resources of time, people, and finances.

This year, we will also ask our members to approve the Board’s recommendation to add four new directors. This will further strengthen our governance and oversight as we prepare for the transition of directors completing their terms of service starting in 2026. Filip Hendrickx (Belgium), Russell Mears (UK), Suzanne Craig (Australia), and Robert Morneau (Canada) bring valuable skills and perspectives from business analysis practice or board governance, adding to the wisdom and experience of IIBA’s current board directors.

We’ll also seek member approval to update our governing bylaw—last revised in 2017—to refine its language to add clarity and relevance to some of its oversight provisions.

The ECBA Evolution

We’re in the final steps of preparing for the new ECBA launch in July. Renewing and updating an exam taken around the world involves a lot of detailed technical and collaborative work, especially as we’re adding support tools and resources (such as a practice exam and learning journeys). Over the past year, many volunteers from our community have contributed through focus groups, consultative roundtables, and other areas of support to help get this ready.

Thank you to everyone who worked on this!  

As we finalize the new ECBA, we’re also starting the analysis and planning for renewing all IIBA certifications. Later this year, we expect to have more detailed steps outlined for this broader initiative. Special thanks to those who have participated in the early consultations shaping this important work.

What We’re Hearing and Where We’re Heading

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the privilege of meeting with chapter leaders, members, and academic, training, and enterprise program partners in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. It’s been a very busy but immensely valuable time, connecting one-on-one or in small groups over a cup of coffee—free from video screens and social media algorithms (!)—to hear how IIBA is advancing the business analysis craft and where we need to do more.

The two topics that have dominated these conversations are artificial intelligence—how our profession can respond, contribute to, and support it—and the IIBA ecosystem—how we can enhance our communities and curation work as we continue to renew, expand, and digitize business analysis standards and content to support the profession. As you may have noticed, we’re actively working in both areas through tools, publishing, and a wide range of engagement activities. I’d like us to move faster in some respects, like expanding and developing the KnowledgeHub and improving access to member contributions. Over the coming months, we’ll be exploring ways to make this happen.

Leveraging all our resources to both support and create opportunities for our members remains one of my top priorities.

Thanks for reading and see you next time in the Corner!