How to become world class Business Analyst - Cases in Excel (Udemy.com)

What is the aim of this course?

This course will help you drastically improve your knowledge and skills in business analysis through a series of practical cases. It is designed for people who want to become business analysts or do a lot of business analysis at their work.

This course is based on my 15 years of experience as a consultant in top consulting firms and as a Board Member responsible for strategy, performance improvement, and turn-arounds in the biggest firms from the Retail, FMCG, SMG, B2B, and services sectors that I worked for. I have carried out or supervised over 90 different performance improvement projects in different industries that generated a total of 2 billion of additional EBITDA. On the basis of what you will find in this course, I have trained in person over 100 consultants, business analysts, and managers who are now Partners in PE and VC funds, Investment Directors and Business Analysts in PE and VC, Operational Directors, COO, CRO, CEO, Directors in Consulting Companies, Board Members, etc. On top of that, my courses on Udemy were already taken by more than 355 000 students, including people working in EY, Walmart, Booz Allen Hamilton, Adidas, Naspers, Alvarez & Marsal, PwC, Dell, Walgreens, Orange, and many others.

I teach through case studies, so you will have a lot of lectures showing examples of analyses and tools that we use. To every lecture, you will find attached (in additional resources) the Excel files as well as additional presentations and materials shown in the lectures, so as a part of this course, you will also get a library of ready-made analyses that can, with certain modifications, be applied by you or your team in your work.

Why have I decided to create this course?

The companies I have worked with so far as a Board Member (I am usually the Chief Restructuring Officer, VP responsible for Strategy and Development) still have huge problems with properly analyzing intermediate and advanced issues – they are usually preoccupied with current activities, and have close to no time for business analysis and strategic decisions. Moreover, they do not know how to approach any subject from an analytical point of view to make sure that they are making the right decision. Therefore, quite often they hire consultants who, in turn, lack the practical knowledge and experience. This course is my small contribution to improving both consulting and operational and strategic analyses in FMC, SMCG, and B2B companies, including online models like e-commerce, SaaS, and marketplaces.

In what way will you benefit from this course?

The course is a practical, step-by-step guide loaded with tons of analyses, tricks, and hints that will significantly improve the speed with which you do the business analyses, as well as the quality of the conclusions coming out of available data in your company. Every business analysis is well described and presented in the form of Excel, attached to the lecture. There is little theory – mainly examples, a lot of tips from my own experience, as well as other notable examples worth mentioning. Our intention is that, thanks to the course, you will know:

• How to analyze different aspects of sales, marketing, and operations?

• How to draw conclusions from those analyses – both for current operations as well as strategic ones?

• How to be efficient in your work as an analyst?

• How to build Excel files and PowerPoint presentations so that it is understandable for you and your team, even after some time?

• Choose the right business analysis to identify problems and opportunities

You can also ask me any questions either through the discussion mode or by messaging me directly.

How is the course organized?

The course is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction. We begin with a little intro into the course as well as some general info on the role of business analyst – what skills, education, and knowledge are required from you, and what are the available career paths for you

• Tools. In the second section, we briefly go through the main tools and concepts for business analysts. We devote some time to the most popular ones: Excel and PowerPoint

• Business modeling - example of analysis. On some occasions, you analyze the whole business to see what the logic behind it is. Here, we show how to prepare the model in Excel for some of the business models

• Sales & Marketing. Analyzing the market, sales activities, efficiency, and the potential for expansion are some of the most typical tasks set for business analysts. Here I provide you with plenty of practical, real-life examples of problems and solutions. Every business analysis also shows you the potential for increased sales or margin.

• Operations. Quite often, business performance depends on Operational Excellence. In this section, we will show you examples of analysis from logistics, production, production planning, and other supply chain issues. Every business analysis here will show you possible savings or opportunities to increase capacity.

• Management Consulting Presentations. In this section, I will show you the essential things you need to create a consulting presentation during management consulting projects.

• Cases for training analytical skills. In the last 4 sections, we will show you a lot of short analytical case studies that will help you improve your analytical skills.

You will also be able to download many additional resources

• Excels with analyses shown in the course

• Presentation of slides shown in the course

• Links to additional presentations and movies

• Links to books worth reading

• Every business analysis is well described, available as a downloadable Excel file, and can be easily modified to meet your needs