Q&A: Building Datacom’s AI business analysis platform

• The BAA is a platform, not a single tool, that uses multiple AI agents chained together and can operate with different large language models across environments to accelerate business analysis.

• Impact includes automated business analysis documentation and backlog reduced by around 50%.

• The platform is already in use with three major customers across Australia and New Zealand and won Innovation of the Year Award at the 2025 International Institute of Business Analysis ANZ Awards.

Business Analysis Accelerator (BAA) is an AI-powered platform which empowers business analysts to analyse, interpret and deliver insights with greater speed and precision. It came from a push within Datacom to use AI to modernise applications, and we decided to use it to support BAs (business analysts). It was selected as winner of the "Innovation of the Year Award" at the 2025 International Institute of Business Analysis ANZ Awards.

BAA is not a single tool, but a platform that uses multiple AI agents which are chained together. They can be assigned to perform different BA functions, working with different large language models (LLMs) across different environments. It’s designed to be integrated with Datacom’s IP and core tools, and to support AI-powered development at scale rather than just delivering a one-off tool. 

The idea began in March 2025. Datacom teams across the business were discussing AI for app modernisation. We started to identify areas in business analysis and exploring prompt engineering, then we started building an AI application powered by an agentic model specifically for Business Analysis work. This evolved into an AI Analysis application with the ability to integrate with work management platforms such as Azure DevOps and JIRA. With the application of AI capabilities across the entire SDLC (software development life cycle), the focus shifted to getting quality requirements and acceptance criteria for software development which is supported by the BAA AI application.

The core team included Rayner Soeiro (Technical Lead) who brought the idea to life, Eugene Lee (Senior Technical Consultant) and early contributors including Tahir Soysa, John Park, Jacques Pienaar, Deepak Srinivasan, Dhara Patel, Yatin Grover and Christopher Trinidad. Leadership from Tammy-Lynn Jones (Associate Director for Digital Enablement) and Joel Macfarlane (Director of Digital Engineering and Data) guided the strategic direction.

BAA integrates with Datacom’s IP platform for AI-powered development going forward. It sits at the front of software development in the business analysis space and is integrated into the broader DevOps ecosystem of coding and testing. 

BAA supports and accelerates BA activities like translating information the BAs have collected from customer workshops or existing customer documentation into user stories and generating functional specifications for what they need. It includes agents for traceability matrix, change management documentation and other BA deliverables.

The impact has been significant, including automation and acceleration of BA documentation. Backlog creation has reduced the time to develop BA deliverables by about 50%. It’s already in use with three major customers across Australia and New Zealand.

The platform supports governance and security features like single sign-on (SSO), project-based access control, and guardrails to ensure outputs are validated and compliant as the solution scales.

BAA is part of Datacom’s view that AI will enhance and amplify what BAs do rather than replace them. The goal is to empower BAs to analyse, interpret and deliver insights with greater speed and precision, positioning AI and prompt engineering-empowered BAs as the next evolution in the BA field. 

The award validates the approach of using AI to augment human capability and highlights the value BAA brings to customers. It reflects the team’s hard work and leadership belief in the project. 

I see AI-skilled BAs as the next evolution in the BA world, following the shifts from Waterfall to Agile to AI-powered approaches, and expect BAs to be empowered by AI to deliver even greater value. 

Leadership support and cross-functional collaboration have been essential to the project’s success; their belief made all the difference in moving from idea to impact. BAA’s journey from nine months of exploration to an award-winning platform highlights how Datacom is turning AI into tangible business analysis outcomes. The project demonstrates that with strong leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and a clear mission to augment human capability, AI can accelerate delivery while elevating the work of business analysts.