Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Support Analyst
💰 $45,000 - $75,000
Business OperationsBusiness AnalystSupportData & Reporting
🎯 Role Definition
The Business Support Analyst is a hybrid operations and analytics role responsible for ensuring day-to-day business processes run efficiently, identifying process gaps, producing accurate operational reporting, and partnering with stakeholders across functions (Sales, Finance, Customer Success, Product, and IT) to implement improvements. This role requires strong analytical skills, an eye for operational detail, and excellent communication to translate data insights into actionable recommendations.
📈 Career Progression
Typical Career Path
Entry Point From:
- Junior Business Analyst
- Operations Coordinator
- Customer Support Analyst
Advancement To:
- Senior Business Support Analyst
- Operations Manager
- Business Analyst II / Senior Business Analyst
- Process Improvement Manager
Lateral Moves:
- Project Coordinator
- Revenue Operations Analyst
- Customer Success Operations
Core Responsibilities
Primary Functions
- Manage daily operational workflows and ticket queues (ServiceNow, Jira, Zendesk), ensuring SLAs are met, escalations are tracked, and issues are resolved or routed to subject matter experts within agreed timeframes.
- Produce, validate, and distribute recurring operational reports and KPIs (daily, weekly, monthly) using Excel, SQL, and BI tools (Power BI/Tableau), ensuring accuracy and timely delivery to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Perform detailed root-cause analysis for recurring process failures or high-severity incidents, documenting findings and proposing corrective action plans to reduce repeat issues.
- Own order-to-cash or procure-to-pay operational tasks end-to-end — processing orders, validating billing data, resolving invoice discrepancies, and liaising with Finance to expedite exceptions and collections.
- Configure and administer CRM and/or ERP systems (Salesforce, Dynamics, NetSuite, SAP) for user support, data hygiene, permission management, and routine maintenance activities.
- Translate business requirements into clear functional specifications for IT and engineering teams, and validate user acceptance testing (UAT) results for enhancements or bug fixes.
- Design and maintain automated dashboards and data visualizations that highlight operational health, trends, and opportunities for cost or time savings.
- Lead or participate in cross-functional projects to implement process improvements, automation, and new operational controls; track project milestones and report status to stakeholders.
- Build and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), runbooks, and process maps to ensure consistent execution and scalable operations across the team.
- Manage vendor and partner operational relationships, including onboarding support, performance tracking, and SLA reconciliation.
- Monitor and report on key customer metrics (churn drivers, support response time, fulfillment accuracy), working with Customer Success and Product to inform retention strategies.
- Support month-end and quarter-end reconciliation tasks, including journal entry support, variance analysis, and coordination with Finance to close the books accurately.
- Conduct ad-hoc analyses to support decision-making — e.g., capacity planning, cost-benefit analysis for automation initiatives, and scenario modeling for headcount or resource needs.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives using Lean or Six Sigma concepts to reduce cycle-time, error rates, and operational costs across business processes.
- Coordinate stakeholder communications for operational changes, including release notes, impact assessments, rollout plans, and training for affected teams.
- Validate data quality across systems, execute data cleansing activities, and implement controls to prevent data degradation (de-duplication, validation rules).
- Create and deliver training materials and onboarding sessions for new hires and internal stakeholders on operational systems, tools, and processes.
- Manage compliance and control activities related to operational risk (KYC/KYB checks, regulatory reporting), ensuring adherence to internal policies and external regulations.
- Track and analyze customer feedback and operational complaints to identify systemic issues and recommend product or process changes.
- Support pricing and rebate administration tasks, including calculating discounts, validating contract terms, and updating systems to reflect approved pricing.
- Coordinate resource allocation and capacity planning with team leads to ensure coverage during peak periods, product launches, or special initiatives.
- Assist in the development and tracking of departmental budgets and forecast variances associated with operational volumes or process changes.
- Facilitate cross-functional working groups to resolve complex issues involving multiple systems, ensuring agreed remediation plans are implemented and validated.
Secondary Functions
- Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
- Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
- Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
- Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Required Skills & Competencies
Hard Skills (Technical)
- Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, Power Query, advanced formulas, macros/VBA) for complex operational reporting and data manipulation.
- Proficient in SQL for querying relational databases to extract, join, and aggregate operational data.
- Experience building dashboards and visualizations in Power BI or Tableau to surface KPIs and operational trends.
- Familiarity with CRM systems (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics) including reporting, workflows, and user administration.
- Experience with ERP systems or order management platforms (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle) and transactional reconciliation.
- Hands-on experience with ticketing and incident management tools (ServiceNow, Jira, Zendesk) for case lifecycle management and SLA reporting.
- Basic scripting or automation experience (Python, R, or RPA tools such as UiPath/Automation Anywhere) to automate repetitive tasks.
- Strong data validation and data quality management skills, including data cleansing techniques and control implementation.
- Knowledge of process mapping and process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen).
- Familiarity with financial reconciliation, invoice processing, and month-end close procedures.
- Experience with UAT coordination and writing test cases for functional changes.
- Comfortable with collaborative tools (Confluence, SharePoint, MS Teams) for documentation and knowledge sharing.
Soft Skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication with the ability to present findings to non-technical stakeholders and senior leadership.
- Strong stakeholder management and customer service orientation; able to build trust and manage expectations across departments.
- Problem-solving mindset with an analytical approach to troubleshooting root causes and designing sustainable solutions.
- High attention to detail and accuracy when working with transactional and financial data.
- Prioritization and time management skills to balance recurring operational tasks and project work under deadlines.
- Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced environments and during organizational or system changes.
- Collaborative team player who can influence outcomes without direct authority.
- Proactive ownership and accountability for end-to-end processes and outcomes.
- Continuous improvement mindset with curiosity to learn new tools and methods.
- Discretion and professionalism when handling confidential or sensitive information.
Education & Experience
Educational Background
Minimum Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Information Systems, Data Analytics, or a closely related field.
Preferred Education:
- Bachelor’s degree plus certifications such as CBAP, Lean Six Sigma (Green Belt), Salesforce Admin, or Microsoft Power BI certification.
Relevant Fields of Study:
- Business Administration
- Finance / Accounting
- Information Systems / Computer Science
- Data Analytics / Statistics
- Operations Management
Experience Requirements
Typical Experience Range:
- 2–5 years in business operations, business analysis, or support analyst roles.
Preferred:
- 3–5 years’ experience in an operations, commercial support, or analytics function with demonstrable experience in process improvement, CRM/ERP administration, and operational reporting.
- Experience in a cross-functional environment (Sales, Finance, Customer Success) and exposure to project coordination or program delivery.