Paulo Dos Reis, Business Analyst at Ackermans, shares his training experience having recently completed the Commercial Awareness course.
On the training Paulo learnt tools and techniques to assess project feasibility and influence business decisions, and has gained business finance and organisational behaviour skills which are adding significant value to his business analysis and project management space.
Here’s what Paulo had to say about his training experience:
Tell us a bit about yourself, Paulo
On the personal front, I’m a passionate and competitive person by nature with a love for a multitude of sports. On the professional front, to my advantage, I have a structured and methodical mind which makes me a logical, calculated and deep thinker – ideal traits for the business analyst role that I occupy.
I’m intrigued by all aspects of business, and thus enjoy a diversity of projects across different business areas. My current role as a business analyst allows me to positively drive core business goals and objectives from the outset of a project, and my business intrigue, combined with my love for writing, facilitates the translation of business needs into business requirements.
Why did you decide to take the commercial awareness course?
A great passion of mine is being able to add value in terms of influencing and providing direction to business owners. In addition to this, working across various functional areas and engaging with the relevant stakeholders is what I most enjoy.
So my expectation going into the Commercial Awareness course was to gain an wider perspective beyond my ‘day-to-day’ activities and to understand the organisational context, especially to evaluate projects from an investment perspective.
These objectives were certainly met, with the skills acquired enabling me to calculate the feasibility of projects and strongly influence stakeholders in their decision making.
How will the course help you in your career?
I will be able to better influence the business people in my area. Thank you!
The Commercial Business Unit in which I work is geared for a number of projects, not yet in initiation phase. The skills attained in the financial modules of the Commercial Awareness course will mean that the Ackerman's business analysts are now better equipped to strategically influence the business in their areas with regards to decision making.
This new business analysis approach is in its infancy, however I am convinced that it’s only a matter of time before improvements are realised by the business owners, in their respective business areas, as a result of the influence of the business analysts learnings from this course.
What was your biggest learning - did you have an AHA! moment?
Everything offered on the course was a great learning to me.
Each module of the course was of great value, but the finance aspects for evaluating the financial case, budgeting, costing and pricing -- the tools think about project feasibility and add business value -- were my personal AHA! moments.
What would you say to someone who is considering doing this course?
This course is an incredibly worthwhile, and will most certainly add value to your business analysis world and project space.
That the skills I gained on the Commercial Awareness course have enabled me to take a step back and assess the feasibility of a project, proposed by the business, with a commercial hat on. This in turn gives great value back to the business, helping them to make more informed project investments and decisions.
What did you enjoy most about the BCMG training experience?
The training experience was really enjoyable.
The lecturer, Joe Newbert, is an expert in the domain of the business analysis and the business analysts role, therefore it was with great satisfaction and a sense of comfort that the lecturing was delivered by himself personally.
In the spirit of 'keep growing', what are you keen to learn next?
I am keen to take the Certificate in Business Analysis Practice, the syllabus look very interesting and incredibly relevant to the business analyst role -- I will definitely be investigating the details regarding that course.
Paulo took the steps to learn business finance and organisational behaviour skills and is adding significant value. Are you ready to gear up? Find out more about the Commercial Awareness course here.
