RecordMove

ICT product manager to ICT business analyst

An ICT product manager already meets 25% of what the ICT business analyst role asks for. The move turns on 13 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional

From ICT product manager

Distant match

To ICT business analyst

8 You already bring

13 Still to learn

37 Skills in the target role2

Learning distance Substantial retraining

73.3/ 100

adjacentmoderatesubstantialcareer change

1 How much of what an ICT business analyst is expected to do is already part of an ICT product manager’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the ICT business analyst role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

An ICT business analyst role treats 5 of its required skills as things an ICT product manager already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

business process modelling
define technical requirements
digital systems
interact with users to gather requirements
provide cost benefit analysis reports

What stands in the way is 13 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 8 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An ICT business analyst role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an ICT product manager background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area

already held interact with users to gather requirements communication, collaboration and creativity
already held ICT market business, administration and law
already held innovation processes business, administration and law
already held business process modelling business, administration and law
already held digital systems information and communication technologies (icts)
already held systems development life-cycle information and communication technologies (icts)

All 8 carried skills, including the 5 the ICT business analyst role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 29 missing skills fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.

Skill to pick up Tier

01 information skills 5 required, 1 supplementary

still to learn analyse business processes required
still to learn analyse business requirements required
still to learn analyse the context of an organisation required
still to learn identify customer requirements required
still to learn identify legal requirements required

optional, not held execute analytical mathematical calculations optional

02 communication, collaboration and creativity 3 required, 2 supplementary

still to learn implement strategic planning required
still to learn propose ICT solutions to business problems required
still to learn translate requirements into visual design required

optional, not held design process optional
optional, not held provide user documentation optional

03 business, administration and law 2 required, 4 supplementary

still to learn business requirements techniques required
still to learn legal requirements of ICT products required

optional, not held internal risk management policy optional
optional, not held organisational resilience optional
optional, not held business intelligence optional
optional, not held business strategy concepts optional

04 management skills 2 required, 1 supplementary

still to learn apply change management required
still to learn create business process models required

optional, not held manage ICT project optional

05 services 1 required

still to learn product usage risks analysis required

06 information and communication technologies (icts) 6 supplementary

optional, not held business ICT systems optional
optional, not held cloud technologies optional
optional, not held decision support systems optional
optional, not held information architecture optional
optional, not held information extraction optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional

2 further areas in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries an ICT business analyst role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 8 skills that carry over

Skill Type

already held business process modelling knowledge
already held define technical requirements skill
already held digital systems knowledge
already held interact with users to gather requirements skill
already held provide cost benefit analysis reports skill
already held ICT market knowledge
already held innovation processes knowledge
already held systems development life-cycle knowledge

The 2 learning areas not shown above

Skill to pick up Tier

07 arts and humanities 1 supplementary

optional, not held visual presentation techniques optional

08 social sciences, journalism and information 1 supplementary

optional, not held information categorisation optional

16 supplementary skills, helpful but not required

Skill to pick up Tier

optional, not held business ICT systems optional
optional, not held cloud technologies optional
optional, not held decision support systems optional
optional, not held information architecture optional
optional, not held information categorisation optional
optional, not held information extraction optional
optional, not held internal risk management policy optional
optional, not held manage ICT project optional
optional, not held organisational resilience optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held visual presentation techniques optional
optional, not held business intelligence optional
optional, not held business strategy concepts optional
optional, not held design process optional
optional, not held execute analytical mathematical calculations optional
optional, not held provide user documentation optional

42 held skills the ICT business analyst role does not ask for

Skill Type

not needed by the target role Agile development knowledge
not needed by the target role DevOps knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT hardware specifications knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT infrastructure knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT process quality models knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT project management knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT quality policy knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT sales methodologies knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT security legislation knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT software specifications knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT system user requirements knowledge
not needed by the target role Open source model knowledge
not needed by the target role Outsourcing model knowledge
not needed by the target role Prototyping development knowledge
not needed by the target role Rapid application development knowledge
not needed by the target role Spiral development knowledge
not needed by the target role Waterfall development knowledge
not needed by the target role advertising techniques knowledge
not needed by the target role assess ICT knowledge skill
not needed by the target role conduct impact evaluation of ICT processes on business skill
not needed by the target role cost management knowledge
not needed by the target role create project specifications skill
not needed by the target role define technology strategy skill
not needed by the target role engineering processes knowledge
not needed by the target role hybrid model knowledge
not needed by the target role incremental development knowledge
not needed by the target role iterative development knowledge
not needed by the target role manage budgets skill
not needed by the target role manage contracts skill
not needed by the target role manage localisation skill
not needed by the target role manage schedule of tasks skill
not needed by the target role monitor technology trends skill
not needed by the target role perform market research skill
not needed by the target role perform online data analysis skill
not needed by the target role perform product planning skill
not needed by the target role perform risk analysis skill
not needed by the target role plan product management skill
not needed by the target role product comprehension knowledge
not needed by the target role quality standards knowledge
not needed by the target role service-oriented modelling knowledge

2 further entries not listed here

15 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to pick up Tier

still to learn business requirements techniques required
still to learn legal requirements of ICT products required
still to learn product usage risks analysis required
optional, not held business ICT systems optional
optional, not held cloud technologies optional
optional, not held decision support systems optional
optional, not held information architecture optional
optional, not held information categorisation optional
optional, not held information extraction optional
optional, not held internal risk management policy optional
optional, not held organisational resilience optional
optional, not held unstructured data optional
optional, not held visual presentation techniques optional
optional, not held business intelligence optional
optional, not held business strategy concepts optional

Index

Other moves recorded from ICT product manager

Full index of moves from ICT product manager

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an ICT product manager become an ICT business analyst?

Yes, and it is a substantial move. An ICT product manager already covers 25% of what an ICT business analyst is expected to do: 8 skills carry over, 5 of which the ICT business analyst role treats as required.

What skills does an ICT product manager need to become an ICT business analyst?

13 required skills are missing, plus 16 optional ones. They fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by information skills. The single most important is business requirements techniques.

How hard is the move from ICT product manager to ICT business analyst?

Its learning distance is 73.3 out of 100, which is the substantial band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.