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Careers for MBAs in India’s IT Industry
By Trividh Patel, CBAP®, MMS (JBIMS), BE (VJTI) - Nov 2012.
I have come across many MBAs from top 10 as well as other leading b-schools, most of them were fresh
without any experience while others were with some prior work experience. Every MBA had one thing in
common, a dream of making it to the top! But after a year (or even after a few months!) in the IT industry they
were not sure how their careers are going to get shaped. They had confussion regarding their mid-term career
goals and which area they should be in. The dilemma faced by MBAs regarding their career path is not at all
surprising considering the structure and operations of an India’s IT companies catering to the clients from
overseas markets such as US, UK, Europe, etc. I believe if every individual assess their strength, weaknesses,
competencies, likes and dislikes before getting into a role than they can surely make their dream come true.
In this paper, I take opportunity to present my observations regarding the roles an MBA can have in India’s IT
industry. I propose role of a business analyst for an MBA in an IT industry and a way to carve out a career
based on their interest and aspirations. The views presented are entirely my personal opinions and are aimed
to benefit MBA community.
Roles for an MBA in the India’s IT industry
In an IT industry, roles are typically divided into two broad streams which include sales and delivery. Sales
team is composed of people responsible for acquiring new customers as well as generating additional business
out of their existing customers. Sales team is generally supported by a sales support team. In delivery, again
there are areas which include development, business analysis, project office, and quality assurance. An MBA
can get into any role depending on organizational requirements, however in long term they can shape their
careers as per their aspirations.
Sales Support/Pre-sales
Most of the time MBAs hired by IT companies are with no or some prior work experience, and often are
inducted into sales support or pre-sales roles. Sales support role involves responding to Request for Proposals
(RFPs) from various clients with a proposal, which typically contains a proposed solution, commercial terms
and relevant organization specific project case studies. In this role, they work as a liaison between the delivery
and the sales team. In this role, over a period of time they acquire some understanding on software
development lifecycle (SDLC), technology, business domain/ process, requirements etc. Most of the people in
pre-sales aspire to get into sales or business development but not sure how as they are not exposed to
customer facing roles and actual selling. Some of these them also aspire to become Project Manager but they
lack in actual project management experience. Very few top-tier IT companies take pain (time and money!) to
train and groom such MBAs for the actual sales or project management roles (instead they prefer to recruit
people with actual experience). Most of the times, MBAs in such pre-sales roles end-up in switching companies
in more or less the same role.

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Project Management Office (PMO)
Sometimes fresh MBAs hired by IT companies are also placed in Project Management Office (PMO) function.
Project office role involves coordinating, tracking and reporting status on various projects and initiatives. This
role requires an MBA to liaise with various project managers and senior managers. In this role, over a period of
time they tend to develop some understanding on SDLC and processes of an IT company. People from this role
typically want to become Project Managers but again lack in actual project management and delivery
experience.
Development
Some fresh MBAs also land up into tech-roles as developers, or in (automated) testing. Their role involves
designing, coding, or (automated) testing. Persons in these roles get solid development and delivery
experience, and are natural candidates to become Project Managers. However, their knowledge of
management studies (and MBA degree!) has no role to play until they land into such role.
Business Analysis
MBAs are highly preferred as Business Analyst but only after some experience in the industry (can be in non-IT
such as banking, financial services etc or in IT products/services in techno-commercial roles such as pre-sales,
project office, functional testing, quality assurance etc). To become a BA, one has to demonstrate in-depth
understanding on concepts of business analysis and skills on various business and requirement modelling
techniques such as process modelling, use case modelling etc. Very rarely IT companies recruit fresh MBAs for
business analysis roles.
MBAs (or even non-MBAs) with substantial
experience in various industries such as
manufacturing, banking, financial services,
retail etc are natural candidates to
become Domain Consultants. Such people
have excellent industry knowledge but
lack skills and knowledge on tools and
techniques to analyse problems and
synthesize solutions. Top tier IT companies
do invest to enhance their skills but would
like someone who is already trained and
have hands-on experience in solutions.
The role of a Business Analyst
Business Analyst (BA) is the one who gathers, analyses, manages and communicates requirements
provided by a large number of people at various levels across the entire organization. BA is responsible
for capturing the actual needs of the stakeholders and recommending solutions to those needs.
What is Business Analysis?
Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organization context by defining needs and
recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. (IIBA’s definition of Business Analysis - v3)

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Career Options for a Business Analyst
If an MBA wants to become a Project Manager there is no substitute for project experience, which can be
either gained working as a developer/project lead for many years or working as Business Analyst for relatively
less number of years before gradually getting into project management. The reasons are quite evident from
the role of the Business Analyst. A Business Analyst role is a customer interfacing role that involves interaction
with people from various levels of an organization. Business Analyst role not only provides complete project
lifecycle experience, but also provides an ability to define solutions requirements to meet business needs.
Similarly, after gaining sufficient experience
in business analysis, a Business Analyst can
also get into sales & business development
roles as they have good customer facing
experience.
A business analyst with rich exposure to
business processes, products and solutions,
and requirements for a specific business
domain such as financial services, insurance
etc can also get into business/process
consulting.
A Business Analyst with a substantial
experience can effectively perform
advanced general business analysis roles
such as Business Architect, or Business
Analysis Practice/COE Leader.
Want to become a business analyst or a domain consultant?
Get trained by an IIBA® Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®)
Participate in business analysis training programs that are designed keeping in mind professional needs of
Business Analysts to help them enhance their skills with gradually increasing levels of expertise as they
progress in their career.
Fundamentals of Business Analysis
A course for those aspiring to start a career in business analysis.
Level: Beginner to intermediate.
Approach: Instructor led classroom discussions, case studies and hand-on exercises.
Prerequisite: Bachelor's degree with at least 2 years of industry experience, or a full-time MBA, MCA or
equivalent.
Duration: 3 days.
This training program provides participant with the skills and techniques to effectively gather and analyse
requirements. The participants will learn the fundamental concepts of business analysis and get hands-on on
the 10+ most essential business analysis techniques at an appropriate depth.

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Other Business Analysis Training Programs
• Advanced Use Case Modelling: A course for those who want to master requirements modelling
with use cases.
• CCBA® / CBAP® Certification Prep Course: A course for those aspiring to get an IIBA® certification in
business analysis.
For enrolment or for more details: Send email at trividh@gmail.com.
About Author
Trividh Patel is a Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®, certification no.
2001) by International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA®) with 12+ years of
experience in an IT services industry. He has extensive experience in Business
Analysis, and has also worked in Presales, Project Management and Business
Technology Services.
He has worked for some of the most reputed IT companies in India and has
executed projects for diverse set of organizations from different geographies such as India, USA, UK, Europe,
Middle East and Japan.
Professional webpage: www.linkedin.com/in/trividhpatel
About IIBA®, CCBA® and CBAP®:
IIBA® is an independent, non-profit professional association serving the growing field of business analysis. IIBA® is a
registered trademark owned by International Institute of Business Analysis. CBAP® and CCBA® are registered certification
marks owned by International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®).
The CCBA® recipients are recognized for the investment they have already made in their business analysis careers. The
CCBA® is for experienced business analysts who have acquired core BA skills.
A CBAP® recipient is an elite member of the business analysis community, and a recognized expert in identifying the
business needs of an organization in order to determine business solutions. The CBAP® designation is a professional
certification for individuals with extensive business analysis experience.
For more information, visit www.iiba.org.