A large health insurance firm once decided to “fix” its slow claims processing system.
So, they invested in a new automation platform. It cost six figures, promised AI-driven efficiency, and took 12 months to implement.
After launch? Claims were still slow.
The team was frustrated, IT was defensive, and the board wanted answers.
Then someone brought in a Business Analyst to investigate.
Within a few weeks, the BA discovered the real issue:
- 80% of the delay happened before automation — during the manual document verification step.
- Staff were waiting for missing forms from customers that were never automatically requested.
- The system itself was fine; the process and communication were broken.
A few workflow tweaks, some automated reminders, and a small UI update later — processing times dropped by 40%.
The automation wasn’t the hero. The diagnosis was.
The Cost of Skipping Diagnosis
We see this everywhere — in projects, marketing, process improvement, even digital transformation.
Leaders spot a symptom and jump straight to a solution.
- “Our app has bad reviews — redesign the UI!”
- “Customers are complaining — let’s add a chatbot!”
- “Sales are down — we need new pricing!”
But when we skip diagnosis, we risk solving the wrong problem brilliantly.
It’s like prescribing medicine before checking what’s wrong with the patient.
You might get lucky. Or you might make things worse.
Case Study: The B2B Portal That Almost Locked the Company In
A well-known multinational pharmaceutical company was developing a new B2B portal for healthcare professionals.
The goal: give verified doctors and medical experts secure access to clinical trial results, research data, and medical insights. To verify that each registrant was a legitimate healthcare professional (HCP), the company chose a third-party authentication service.
The project was already well underway when a Senior Business Analyst joined to streamline requirements and review the technical integrations.
Within days, she spotted a red flag. The proposed API setup looked convenient — a simple “plug-and-play” solution. However, when she examined the data flow, she discovered a significant long-term risk.
Every time a healthcare professional registered, their details were sent to the vendor’s system.
The third-party stored that data in its own database and returned only one piece of information: a simple “yes” or “no” confirming the user’s professional status.
That meant the pharma company was enriching the vendor’s database — not its own. If the vendor ever changes terms or pricing, the company would be at a disadvantage. All verified user data would remain locked inside the vendor’s system.
When the BA raised this risk and proposed an API redesign to preserve data ownership, the vendor refused.
So the pharma company made a bold decision: they scrapped the integration and built a new authentication solution in-house, one that ensured data control, compliance, and long-term flexibility.
It cost more upfront but saved them from years of vendor dependency. What looked like a “quick win” could have become a strategic trap — until a Business Analyst asked the right question:
“Who will own the data?”
Why We Skip Diagnosis
We skip diagnosis for three main reasons:
- Speed. We’re under pressure to deliver quick wins.
- Assumptions. We think we already know the cause.
- Shiny-object syndrome. New tools or trends distract us from fundamentals.
And yet, these shortcuts are the most expensive decisions we make.
When teams jump straight to “solutions,” they risk burning time, budget, and credibility on the wrong priorities.
The Business Analyst is like a doctor in the digital world
If every project is a patient, then the Business Analyst (BA) is the doctor who starts with diagnosis.
A BA doesn’t just ask, “What do you want to build?”
They ask, “Why do you think we need to build this?”
They dig deeper — beneath symptoms, opinions, and assumptions — to uncover root causes and hidden constraints.
They use techniques like:
- Root cause analysis – asking “Why?” five times until the real issue surfaces.
- Process mapping – visualizing where delays, gaps, or rework actually occur.
- Data analysis – validating what’s happening instead of relying on opinions.
- Customer journey mapping – seeing the problem through the user’s eyes.
By diagnosing accurately, BAs turn scattered information into clear understanding — so the team can design the right solution, not just a solution.
One of my mentors once said:
“A solution without a diagnosis is just an experiment you pay for.”
And it’s true.
When companies complain that “digital transformation failed,” it’s rarely because of technology. It’s because they solved the wrong problem.
Example: The Chatbot That Nobody Needed
A utilities company wanted to add an intelligent chatbot to reduce call center costs.
The assumption?
“Our customers are calling too often for simple queries.”
They were ready to buy a chatbot platform, hire vendors, and get started.
Before the project kicked off, a Business Analyst was brought in to help “define requirements.” Instead of writing specs right away, the BA started by analyzing call logs.
What she found was surprising:
- 60% of calls weren’t about “simple queries.”
- They were about billing errors caused by an integration issue between two internal systems.
In other words, a chatbot would have simply automated bad answers. Fixing the billing sync reduced call volumes by 50% — no chatbot required.
Her diagnosis saved thousands.
The Real ROI of Business Analysis
Here’s the secret most executives eventually discover:
A good Business Analyst saves you far more money by what you don’t build.
- They prevent scope creep.
- They stop teams from chasing shiny tools.
- They keep focus on value, not activity.
Every hour a BA spends diagnosing prevents dozens of hours wasted in rework, U-turns, or “phase twos” that shouldn’t exist. Diagnosis doesn’t slow projects down — it makes sure you’re running in the right direction.
The Takeaway
Next time someone says, “We need to implement AI,” or “Let’s automate this,” pause and ask:
“What problem are we actually solving?”
Because guessing is expensive, and the Business Analyst is the one person trained to make sure you never have to.
