Dhirubhai Ambani quotes that if you do not structure your vision, someone else will charter you to actualize theirs. This inspiration has single-handedly led to millions of businesses being inaugurated worldwide. The structure of the economic industry that allows the provision of commodities to humans is based on the existence of businesses. Through businesses, people acquire and satisfy their critical needs as well as make a profit. However, an accurate business analysis must be bracketed for any business to succeed. This article outlines the basics of business analysis, the steps for its achievement, and a related example.
Definition of a business analysis
Business analysis involves identifying a business’s needs and viable solutions to its current and future problems. It involves policy formulation, strategic planning, team organization, and improvements in business methodology. Business analysis is vital for both small and large trades since it helps to:
- Outline a detailed plan for achieving business goals.
- Define organizational roles and their purpose in actualizing business objectives.
- Define the current state of the business.
- Identify existing problems and find workable solutions for them.
- Highlight possible areas of improvement.
Techniques for business analysis
Several steps and techniques have been used over time for business analysis.
The techniques include:
-
SWOT
This analysis method examines a business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The method is highly sort out among analysts due to its uncomplicated nature. The business environment is assessed through shared input among shareholders and challenges the business faces are surfaced. The strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities are checked against the set goals, then strategies to address existing matters are defined.
-
PESTLE
This method considers the effect of political, economic, social, technical, legal, and environmental factors affecting a business. This technique is more diverse than the SWOT analysis and allows grouping the factors with specific solutions to mitigate the business’s challenges. It also highlights current developments in all the outlined fields and their influence on the business while providing solutions for the way forward.
-
CATWOE
This is an analysis method that approaches business analysis by grasping the stakeholders’ viewpoints and their influence on the business. It involves scrutiny of the customers, actors, transformation process, world view, owner, and environmental key factors. It allows the analyst to assess outlooks from involved shareholders and consider the collected information for refining the business.
-
The 5 whys
This technique allows the analyst to determine the main root of business problems. This is through probing key questions to determine the background for an arising problem. Subsequent solutions to the problem are then formulated based on the questions asked.
-
MoSCoW
This method is used mainly for management requirements. It determines the elements of the businesses categorized as must-haves, should-haves, could-haves, and would-haves. The analysis determines the necessities of the business as well as failure points. It also highlights aspects important for the business that will be obtained over time.
-
Six Thinking Hats
The analysis method is categorized into various colors.
- The white hat is the objective hat
- Red highlights intuitive focusing on emotion and instinct,
- Black is the cautious hat highlighting future negative outcomes
- Yellow is the optimistic hat majoring on positive outcomes
- The green hat is the creative aspect, and
- Blue is the control aspect focusing on management
Example of a business analysis report: SWOT analysis for Google
Google was founded in 1994 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were computer scientists. The company’s basis was developed on the cosmic amount of data bombarding the world at the time, without an efficient method of its storage. The company currently has over 1 billion users of its products and services. It is the most used search engine in the world, with a search engine index of more than 100,000,000 GB of data. Google is the leading domain worldwide, with over 82.6 billion visits, and is a basis for over 85% of internet searches worldwide. This BUSINESS ANALYTIC CASE STUDY will analyze the performance of Google through the SWOT analysis method.
-
Strengths
Google is one of the most profitable companies in the world, and this is mainly based on the company’s strengths. The strengths include:
- The company has strong brand image has created confidence among many people due to its reliability and dependability. It has a simplistic logo with multicolor branding that allows its identification of other services offered by Google.
- It has a large market base as the most popular search engine with a vast information source. Its popularity also allows it to stay on top of the competition.
- It has a range of products. The company has offered products on services such as emails, reports, data reports, maps, and news.
- Google has a broad successful advertising platform. According to 2019, Google has a 73% market share in the search advertising industry. The company offers a forum for businesses to reach consumers without limiting boundaries.
- Google is also considered the most innovative search engine. The company is on-toes in creating new services and algorithms to improve service to its clients and reach a wider market scope. Services such as voice search and google lens have made the search engine more efficient. It also accommodates all 149 languages, thus allowing translation and inclusion of a wider reach of people, thus personalizing the browsing experience.
- Google has a large organizational capacity. The company has offices in many countries, employing almost 200,000 people. It also offers a network allowing other people to make their income by offering free online courses and employment.
-
Weaknesses
Despite Google being a widely successful company, it has also had its fair share of weaknesses over the years. The weaknesses in this business analysis case study include the following:
- Over-dependence on online technologies. Most operations and services offered by Google are highly reliant on the Internet. The services are also inaccessible on the availability of slow and unsteady Internet.
- Over-reliance on advertising as the source of income. Advertising forms the largest portion of Google’s income, with other sources forming meager contributions. Other channels have therefore been given little focus.
- Google users have aired grievances on the privacy of data protection. The data protection policy also is lengthy and has unnecessary jargon, making it difficult to understand. Google has received several lawsuits and fines due to the data protection grievance. Despite the information being useful for customizing searches and refining user browsing experience, consumers have worried about too much data tracking. The challenge has continued for some time, despite being addressed by the company, and has caused setbacks such as eliminating projects such as Dragonfly.
- Google has registered very little presence on social media. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have dominated this space, and despite previous attempts to break into this market through Google+, their influence in the sector has been minimal.
-
Opportunities
Google has majorly overcome most of its competition in the online world. Either way, it still has plenty of opportunities for the propagation of the company. The opportunities in this business analysis case study include the following:
- Expansion into new markets. There is still a wide and unexplored market that is yet to be reached by Google. Refinement of the services to allow offline access to their services can broaden the spectrum of markets to be reached by the company. Introducing Google products and services in healthcare and education can also improve its consumer base network. Moreover, establishing other new products can also further the agenda of reaching more people worldwide.
- Machine learning and artificial intelligence. By establishing systems and learning products, Google has slowly been watering into machine learning and AI technology. However, more focus can be extended on the same. Considering the high reach of people and strong, established confidence in the brand, this venture would flourish significantly.
- Mobile phone advertising. The number of mobile phone users keeps multiplying yearly, and establishing the 5G network also improves the market. Therefore, Google may establish services such as voice assistants on mobile phones.
-
Threats
Like any other company, Google faces several threats that pose challenges in the operation of its services. The following are the threats of this business analysis report example.
- Competition with other significant businesses. Google has proved as the most successful search engine company consecutively. However, it still faces threats from other companies, such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon, that refine their services frequently and launch innovations around the clock, thus challenging its position. Due to the competition, the market share is also reduced, thus reducing profits.
- Regulations restricting Google’s operations. Regulatory restrictions threaten Google’s maximization of the benefits of its analytics and data-mining capabilities. Privacy and user-consent regulations require companies to limit their collection and use of consumer data. Google has received staggering regulations, especially on the grounds of data privacy and antitrust. Barriers to reducing its monopoly effect have also hindered the company from escalating its market share.
- Rapid technology advancements also pose a threat to the company. Available programs and services can quickly be rendered obsolete; thus, the company may face the threat of unused services due to being outdated.
Recommendations
Based on the analysis, Google has surpassed the bar in creating a credible and reliable platform for online browsing. However, the standing challenge on data privacy has brought about other undesirable consequences that have affected its operation. Redefining the data policy into a brief well-outlined charter would inspire more confidence from their users. It would consequentially reduce the bound regulations imposed and increase the consumer base, thus killing two birds with a stone.
Conclusion
Business analysis reports are essential in instilling students with skills to manage future businesses successfully. With the cited example, students can confidently write a business analysis report through any listed analysis methods. Take the leap and start your report today!
