The Future of Business Analysis
About the event
The very first in-person Perth BA Tribe event, and the response blew us away: a full house, with more than 20 people still on the waitlist.
No polished keynotes and no theory slides. Four experienced BAs, hosted by Muthukumar Murugesan, had an honest talk about where the BA role is heading and what it takes to do well in it.
The panel
01Jasvinder Kundi · Principal Consultant, Lane8 Consulting
Jas has more than 25 years of business analysis experience in banking across the UK and Australia. Before joining Lane8 in 2026, she spent almost 14 years at Bankwest, most recently as Business Analyst Practitioner Lead, leading 21 BAs within a 100-strong onshore and offshore chapter. Earlier, she worked as a Finance Business Analyst at Barclays in London.
02Elaine Nagajek · Senior Business Analyst, Lane8 Consulting
Elaine started her career as a programmer at HBF, Bankwest and Western Power before moving into business analysis. She then spent many years on university systems at Curtin University, UWA and Murdoch University, where she was a Senior Technical BA on CRM projects and also stepped into a Scrum Master role. She now works with Lane8, and is ECBA certified, a mentor and a coach.
03Mark Payne · Principal and Asia-Pacific Leader, Sooner Safer Happier
Mark spent close to 18 years at Bankwest, including as Head of Solution Analysis, before leading ways of working design at Commonwealth Bank and Suncorp. He was Principal and Asia-Pacific Leader at Sooner Safer Happier (BVSSH) and also runs his own consultancy, TREBL. His focus is strategy to execution, operating models and using AI to help organisations deliver value.
04Nathan Leefhelm · Business Analysis Team Lead, Monadelphous
Nathan leads the business analysis team at Monadelphous, which he joined in 2026. Before that, he was Business Analysis Practitioner Lead at Bankwest, and spent more than five years at Commonwealth Bank as a Lead Business Analyst and Scrum Master. Earlier, he worked as a Senior BA at HBF Health and CBH Group.
What we talked about
01The role ahead
What will change for BAs in the next three to five years, and what will stay surprisingly constant.
02AI and the BA toolkit
AI was the big topic of the night. BAs can now use it to learn new skills faster, sketch a design, try a bit of vibe coding and take on many more kinds of work than before.
03Keeping BABOK in the picture
The BABOK Guide still matters. Applying it in everyday BA work keeps good practice at the centre, even as the tools change.
04An honest look
The common BA blind spots our profession should talk about more openly.
Watch the highlights
On the night
Four different lenses, from banking and insurance to government and resources, and a room buzzing from 5:30 right through to close.
Thank you
Thank you to Jasvinder, Elaine, Mark and Nathan for such a generous, no-spin conversation, and to Muthukumar for hosting.
Most of all, thank you to the Perth BA community for filling the room. That is what the Tribe is about.
Perth BA Tribe, created and run by Lane8