Date: Wednesday, January 21st, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Irish Time)
Where: Zoom
Speakers: Omar Portillo
Have you ever been curious about how Business Analysts operate across different industries?
We're excited to launch "A Day in the Life of a BA".
Each month, we invite passionate BA professionals to share real-world experiences, daily routines, challenges, and insights into their industry.
👉 For January, we are excited to welcome Omar Portillo - a seasoned BA who will give us a practical look into the world of business analysis in IT Research.
Dr Omar Portillo is a Lecturer in Computing at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). With over 20 years of industry and academic experience, he has held senior technical and managerial roles in global organisations across multiple domains like retailing, telecom, finance, cybersecurity, and IT. His research interests involve software engineering, data privacy, performance engineering, and cybersecurity, with 30+ peer-reviewed publications, 4 awarded US patents, and 2 competitive funding awards as principal investigator. Finally, Omar is also a certified business analyst (IIBA CBAP), project manager (PMI PMI, PMI ACP), and cybersecurity professional (ISC2 CC), along with other professional certifications.
This session explores how Business Analyst (BA) competencies play a critical role in the work of IT researchers, even when a researcher does not formally hold a BA title. It highlights, through a narrative walk-through of key research phases, how BA practices can enhance research quality by providing structure, analytical rigour, and stakeholder alignment throughout the IT research science lifecycle.
💡 What you’ll learn:
- How Business Analyst (BA) skills are applicable across the entire IT research science lifecycle.
- A phase-by-phase look at how BA techniques can help to better define research problems and translate high-level ideas into systematic research that can bridge the gap with business needs.
- A better understanding of how adopting a BA mindset leads to more rigorous, traceable, and impactful research outcomes.
Don’t miss this opportunity to step into the world of business analysis and connect with peers in the broader BA community. See you there! 🌟