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Business Analyst, Information Technology, Thematic Analysis, Qualitative Analysis.

Business analysts (BAs) have become central to successful digital initiatives, yet evidence about the competencies and practices that make them effective is scattered across multiple disciplines. This systematic review integrates findings from 11 peer-reviewed studies published between 2005 and 2025 to clarify (1) the core duties and skills consistently attributed to IT BAs and (2) their documented impact on project and organizational outcomes. Following a preregistered PROSPERO protocol and PRISMA 2020 procedures, this study searched Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and ABI/INFORM, removed duplicates, screened 648 records, and critically appraised 52 full texts, retaining 11 high-quality articles for analysis. Reflexive thematic coding in NVivo revealed three dominant themes: (1) people-centered competencies, communication, stakeholder facilitation, and trust building, outweigh technical tools in predicting BA effectiveness; (2) in agile and digital-transformation contexts, BAs enhance team “dynamic capability” by curating shared understanding and transferring tacit knowledge; and (3) the role is expanding from requirements custodian to strategic change agent, requiring an “Enterprise 4.0” mindset that couples systems thinking with customer-centric innovation. Collectively, the evidence suggests that updating competency frameworks to emphasize soft skills and strategic mindset is at least as critical as refining technical techniques. Educators, certification bodies, and organizations can use these insights to refine training, role definitions, and career pathways, ensuring BAs remain vital catalysts of digital value creation.