What emerging trends are shaping the role of business analysts this year? What new tools or platforms are expected to gain traction? What challenges business analysts will face in 2025? We sat down with Dmitri Maklakov, Head of Business Analysis. Read his reflections and predictions below.

What emerging trends do you see shaping the role of business analysts in 2025?

So far, it’s a continuation and amplification of the trends that have been with us for a while – utilising AI & Data for both your daily activities and product development needs.

How might economic or market changes influence the demand for business analysis skills?

Customers want to get more value for the money at any time, but this is even more relevant in the current economic situation. Whether it’s end users wanting your product to not only meet their needs but also bring something on top of that, or owners of the business expecting product development teams to be more efficient and deliver value faster. With that being said, the more versatile skillset you have as BA or PO/PM, the more likely you will be in hot demand. Also, you need to learn how to ‘delegate’ your routine tasks to AI assistants.

What new tools or platforms are expected to gain traction this year?

AI Assistant Agents. While we as BAs and POs/PMs already using Chat GPT and other AI tools to assist with our day-to-day job, I can see companies will start introducing more and more AI assistant agents in their end-to-end customer journeys.

How do you think advancements in AI, automation, and data analytics will impact the field of business analysis?

In a nutshell, if you’re not using (them) – you’re losing. Losing as a professional in a competitive market, losing your time daily, losing traction of tech progress. This is no longer future tech – this is today’s reality.

What challenges do you anticipate business analysts will face in 2025?

Fighting false belief, that your profession can be replaced with AI. And there are already lots of experiments showing how important human guidance is for AI. In the case of a BA, it basically works as if you delegate your work to a more junior specialist.

How do you see the relationship between business analysts and other roles changing in 2025?

I can’t see it changing much, to be honest, other than becoming even more focused on collaboration. Luckily, in the last 5 years tools for online collaboration, such as Miro, have made a huge step forward.

What lessons from recent years should business analysts carry forward into 2025?

Don’t resist change, embrace it. We’ve seen the role of BA has evolved a lot in recent years. I strongly believe, those who resist change, to ‘shift left’, are on a backfoot already.

What advice would you give to business analysts aiming to succeed in 2025?

AI tools & Data insights are things that you must incorporate into your work already. Value thinking is key to success in any project. And always stay curious and keep your eyes peeled for emerging trends.