As a Business Analyst if you have domain knowledge, it will definitely help you in BA career. In this article, I will explain what we mean by domain knowledge for a business analyst and how to acquire domain knowledge.

Domain is the industry, which our customer organization belongs to. Banking, Insurance, Healthcare, Retail, Hospitality, Aviation, Real estate, Manufacturing etc. are the examples of various industries. All the industries differ based on –

• Business process (Sales, Production)
• Product or Service offerings
• Customer types, Market, Target audience, Competitors, Alliances  
• Statutory compliance and government regulation

Based on the above-mentioned factors, all the business organizations have segregated themselves as a domain.

A Business Analyst is expected to know at least one domain so that he can communicate well with the customer to understand the business issues, process, requirements and business goals. If the business analyst is planning to acquire the knowledge on a domain, he should focus on the points, mentioned above and try to gain as much information he can gain.

If someone wants to gain Healthcare domain knowledge, he should first follow the instruction as below –

• Learn the Business process that is followed in Healthcare domain. It follows various sales processes. If you work in healthcare business, you may ask the sales person to explain you how the sales happens, what are the sale types, how much time does it take, how do customer make payment, how does a customer cancel a sale etc.
• Learn how many different Products or Services offered by the healthcare company. What are the major category of healthcare products e.g. Medical, Dental, Medicare, Medicaid etc. How do the products differ, what are the major value the product or services provide to customers?  
• Learn about Customer types, Market, Target audience, Competitors, Alliances the healthcare organization has. The customers are segmented based on various factors, the competitors are in the market with additional benefits, the partners, distributors, providers, health organizations, pharmacists all have key role to play for a healthcare organization. Try to understand why they exist and what they do.
• All healthcare organizations have to maintain some statutory compliance and government regulations, e.g. HIPAA. Try to know about the major statutory compliance for healthcare organizations and the rules.

How to gain domain knowledge?

1. If you are a fresher, you can learn about a domain from internet by searching on the topics as discussed above
2. If you are working in an organization, you can speak to the end user in your company and gain the required knowledge you are seeking for
3. You can also subscribe to the specific industry portal’s newsletter and business updates
4. Follow some organizations that you aspire for (follow it on Facebook, LinkedIn, organization’s official website)

I believe this will help you in the first step in understanding a domain. Remember, domain knowledge acquisition, is a continuous process and there is no end of it. So keep learning and maintain a journal to keep recording what you have learnt today.