How to Become a Business Consultant or Analyst: From Zero - To Hero

You got this incredible opportunity to grow in your profession and explore the options of becoming an internal business consultant or analyst, but you don't know where to start? Let's fix that.

I’ve moved more times than I could count and I’ve worked in so many industries and roles that sometimes it’s overwhelming. However, I came to realise it gave me unique insights and exposure to subject matter material professionals normally do not achieve. Struggling to figure out my path - projects, operations, MedTech or perhaps Academia - I ended up contemplating yet another option: business analysis. But where would one start?

Looking at BCG, pwc and other industry giants, my chances as someone who graduated some time ago looked slim: I didn’t quite fit the proper manager profile, nor did I have enough industry exposure in one specific area. Aiming for an associate was out of the question as financially it was no longer a viable option (if you’re young and live with your parents or are straight out of uni, I can’t recommend enough looking at graduate or associate roles at The Big 4!). The more I thought, the more complex it became. I knew internal analyst or business consultant roles existed, but where could I find them, or how could I transition into such a role within my organisation?

Making the leap into a business analyst or consulting role means shifting your focus from executing tasks to strategically analysing the entire business ecosystem. Success in this demanding, yet highly rewarding, path requires a clear framework, rigorous data discipline, and a deep understanding of your stakeholders. Do you already have the resilience and the drive to seek continuous intellectual stimulation? Let’s formalise the approach.

1. The Two Views: Connecting the Dots

A high-quality business report or consultation depends on your ability to adopt two perspectives simultaneously: the micro and the macro. Viewing the business through both lenses allows you to form a holistic strategy.

The Micro View (Operational Excellence)

This perspective focuses on the ground-level reality of day-to-day operations and processes. As an internal consultant, you must function as a deep internal business analyst, continually identifying bottlenecks, finding process inefficiencies, and researching new technologies.

For example, when examining a business process, you might focus on:

• Process Analysis: Systematically analysing existing workflows to pinpoint specific problems, like bottlenecks restricting maximum production capacity.

• Troubleshooting & Adaptation: Being ready to troubleshoot problems immediately and creatively adjust plans - whether it is staff routes, schedules, or logistics - to minimise disruption and cost, demonstrating resilience in chaotic operational environments.

• Resource Management: Ensuring resources are efficiently allocated, and staff roles are clearly defined to prevent excess capacity or unmet demand.

The Macro View (Strategic Impact)

The macro perspective connects your micro-level findings back to the organisation’s overall strategic direction, objectives, and market context.

• Strategic Alignment: Your project initiatives must align with the broader strategic and business plans of the organisation. For International Business (IB), this means examining phenomena across levels, including the individual manager, the firm, the industry, and the environment.

• Values and Societal Context: Increasingly, international business scholarship advocates for widening its lens to consider social value creation alongside economic success, linking business decisions to broader global challenges. This ensures your work is not only profitable but also meaningful and impactful on people and communities.

• External Factors: When dealing with international projects, you must account for external challenges, such as differing decision-making structures, legal regulations, and socio-cultural constraints, to ensure successful delivery and maintain healthy relationships.

2. The Data Imperative: Research as Your Foundation

No consultation or strategic decision can be credible without high-quality data. You must establish yourself as a truly data-driven professional.

• Rigorous Data Stewardship: You must take ownership of the data, acting as an internal Data Steward. This involves systematically aggregating information from diverse sources (such as Salesforce, SharePoint, local spreadsheets, and collaboration platforms like Trello or Teams).

• Standardisation and Democratisation: To enable efficient reporting and collaborative, data-driven decision-making, you need to standardise data formats and terminology, creating a single source of truth.

• Performance Tracking: Data is necessary for performing comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis (e.g., via Excel, Power Query, or Qualtrics) to identify trends, recommend specific improvements, and track performance against key objectives. For instance, demonstrating profitability per route requires precise data analysis.

• Justification: Your Business Case, presented during the project initiation phase, must rigorously document the justification for the project, comparing costs against anticipated, measurable benefits, proving the project is worthwhile, viable, and affordable.

3. Know Your Audience: Tailoring Your Insight

Successful consultants excel at communication and managing expectations, which begins with knowing precisely who is receiving the information.

• Stakeholder Analysis: Identify your stakeholders early on, understanding their specific interests in the project, their importance, and how they might be impacted (e.g., changes to work, processes, or technology). Failure to consider stakeholder needs and influences can cause projects to fail.

• Report Tailoring: The level of detail and language must be tailored to the audience:

1. ◦ Executive Audience (SRO/Project Board): Needs concise summary documents like the Project Brief (initial view, objectives, scope) or the Project Initiation Document (PID) (detailed proposition, business case, plan). During delivery, they need regular Highlight Reports covering progress, budget status, issues, and revised forecasts.

2. ◦ Project Team/Technical Staff: Needs in-depth plans, such as a full Project Plan (including activities, resource estimates, and schedule).

• Cross-Functional Communication: You must be adept at mediating complex relationships and simplifying technical or clinical information to ensure alignment and buy-in among diverse groups, such as technical, clinical, and administrative staff.

4. The Analyst's Pathway: Your Step-by-Step To-Do List

Use the structured approach of a project lifecycle (consistent with methodologies like PRINCE2, PMI, APM, SCRUM or similar) to guide your work from start to finish.

Key Tasks and Deliverables

I. Starting Up

Define and justify the project's need, goals, and desired benefits. Create the Project Brief. Define the scope, assumptions, constraints, and known risks.

II. Initiating

Develop the detailed Business Case (ensuring viability and affordability). Conduct stakeholder analysis. Create the detailed Project Plan (defining deliverables, activities, resources, and schedule). Document the approach in the Project Initiation Document (PID).

III. Running/Delivery

Mobilise staff and resources. Break the project down into manageable stages. Plan, monitor, and control the work, reporting progress (Highlight Reports). Proactively manage risks (using a Risk Log) and issues/changes (using Change Control) as they arise.

IV. Closing

Conduct an evaluation of the project against the PID. Ensure all deliverables are complete, accepted, and handed over. Record and disseminate lessons learned. Formally disband the project organisation.

V. Benefits Realisation

The SRO (Senior Responsible Owner) takes ownership of the Benefits Realisation Plan. This plan tracks whether the anticipated benefits are actually achieved after the project closes.

5. Recommended Report Structure

Whether presenting a Project Brief or a detailed consultancy report, a standard, logical structure ensures clarity and readability. In my current role working with entrepreneurship projects in Iowa, USA, I usually prepare two reports: one is a concise version highlighting the main objectives and KPIs, and the second is with additional documentation and insights.

The short version has links to internal sites (SharePoint and Power BI), as well as external resources where more information could be found, if needed. The long version has all these additional documents in the main body of my report. What's the best way to go? The answer depends on your target audience or the purpose of an event where this report will be shared. If your stakeholders are highly invested in your projects and operations, it’s most likely that they will be interested in seeing the full scope of your activities and achievements. If your stakeholders engage with you on a quarterly basis and are a third-party or someone from a very different team/department, it’s best to provide them with the concise version of your report - and resources (with permissions!) to access additional information if and when needed.

When it comes to the actual report, I suggest keeping it simple. The standard structure would have the following:

1. Executive Summary: A concise, high-level summary of the challenge, key findings, and main recommendations. This is essential for executives (SRO/Project Board) and should be compelling.

2. Introduction/Overview: Defines the context, background, objectives (which must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound), and scope (what is in and out).

3. Methodology/Approach: Explains the tools and techniques used (e.g., specific data analysis, EOQ modelling, or Network Diagrams) and the assumptions made.

4. Findings and Analysis: This is the core data-driven section, detailing the research, calculations, identification of bottlenecks, cost-benefit analyses, and comparison of options. Visual tools (like pivot charts or resource histograms) are critical here.

5. Recommendations: Actionable, specific steps derived directly from the analysis (e.g., suggesting new pricing policies, optimising orders, or expanding staffing).

6. Conclusion: Reiteration of the overall assessment and confirmation of the report’s alignment with the project’s high-level objectives.

6. Tools & Continuous Learning

To thrive in a professional consulting or analyst environment, you must leverage powerful tools and commit to continuous development. Contrary to the popular opinion, I don’t think you need to become a Data Analyst or a Data Scientist - it’s ok for you not to program or be highly numeric. I strongly believe the key asset here is industry and process knowledge, and the ability to do high-quality research.

Qualitative insights take time, and only an experienced professional will be able to connect the dots and provide valuable suggestions how to improve operations, be more efficient or re-work the marketing, pricing or market strategy to become more competitive. Quantitative insights are only as good as the data we have: if we’re working with internal CRM systems, exports and spreadsheets, our data analysis will only be as good as the data we have. The same goes data we obtained through external research. If you’re well-rounded and have enough industry/project/process/business knowledge, you might be able to fill in the data gaps and tell the story. If you’re also lacking with statistics or data modelling, AI is going to be your friend. I strongly believe that collaborating with AI can compensate your shortcomings and open the door not only to learning but also to designing a new career path.

When it comes to technology and what is essential for an internal Business Analyst or Business Intelligence professional, I would recommend to learn (or improve) working with platforms that enhance automation, collaboration, and data insights:

• Business Intelligence & Data: Power BI or Tableau for visual reports and smart business insights; Excel and Qualtrics for detailed data analysis and performance tracking.

• Digital Architecture & Automation: The Microsoft Power Platform (including Power Automate for automated workflows and Power Apps for custom applications) is essential for streamlining operations and integrating systems. Microsoft has incredible learning tools - you can even use AI to design your own learning path (according to your specific project, the time you have for learning, and outcomes you’re hoping to deliver). There are also plenty of materials on LinkedIn, Coursera and Udemy.

• Project Management: Utilising tools like Gantt Charts, Network Diagrams, MS Project, Monday.com, or Trello helps you manage project delivery and track performance against the plan. Most of them are intuitive, so easy to use. But they will visualise your tasks, connect the dots, and enable you not only to see the bigger picture, the progress and all the associated resources, but also streamline collaboration.

• CRM/Data Management: Experience with platforms like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Mosaic is valuable for ensuring data integrity and customer relationship tracking.

If you understand the industry, the business and the project or the specific problem you are working on, and have the ability to use a combination of these systems, you will be able to find, extract and link all the relevant data and insights. If you are lacking the technical knowledge to program or calculate, you can always use AI tools to guide you through this journey. However, I would strongly recommend investing your time to learn one of the visual tools - Pivots in Excel, Power BI or Tableau.

First of all, it’s not only about the table, chart or diagram. It’s about visual communication. Having the knowledge and doing the numbers doesn’t mean that we were successful in our task as a BI or BA professional. It means that we still have a job to do: we must leverage all this data and insights to tell an impactful story. And it’s not only about the charts we build or the colours we choose - it’s also about how we allow (or not allow) to drill into our data, who has access to what dashboard or report, etc. Microsoft has incredible resources to introduce you to the most important aspects of visual communication, dashboard design and efficient visuals. I can't recommend it enough!

Topics for Continuous Learning

The journey does not end when the project closes. Even if your stakeholders are satisfied with our report, consider exploring new tools and expanding your development in these areas:

• Project Management: Pursue professional affiliations (like the APM or PMI) and study agile methodologies, risk management, and the core project lifecycle.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Understand foundational and advanced AI/ML principles, AI orchestration (designing effective AI pipelines), and the strategic delivery of AI projects, with an emphasis on MLOps, risk management, and business ethics.

• Strategic Change: Focus on digital transformation, change management, and business process improvement methodologies to efficiently identify and implement solutions to organisational inefficiencies and bottlenecks.

• Finance & Governance: Study advanced skills in financial oversight, contract management, and data intelligence to support strategic growth.

This approach will enable you to manage complex projects, navigate ambiguity, provide meaningful, data-driven insights, and confidently carve your path as a successful internal business analyst or consultant.