The Big Key to the Decision Making Revolution is Culture, Not Big Data
We are in the era with overwhelming Information coming constantly from multiple sources in an extremely rapid pace. To process the logical answer and keep up with everything you need to know is becoming more and more challenging. Most of time, decisions are made with a combination of past experiences and some data analysis reports.
According to a recent study on IT trends and analysis by Teradata, many companies believed they can gain substantial profits from the use of Big Data:
- 59% of managers in decision-making and senior specialists in information technology believed that the analysis of the data is the number one factor in obtaining competitive advantages.
- 66% said they were already using analysis tools for Big Data and have obtained “a significant and measurable impact on revenue.”
The survey also showed that Big Data is shaping the future and driving opportunities for innovation in three key areas:
- 54% respondents said Big Data is creating new business models.
- 52% said Big Data helps them discover new product offers.
- 40% said they can sell data to external companies.
Big Data brings all those big opportunities to us; so what’s the holdup? In part, there is still a lack of confidence in Big Data solutions:
- Only 53% of respondents said their in-house solutions were above the market average.
- 44% expressed the shortage of skills in the organization and operational challenge to undertake Big Data analysis effectively.
However, the main concern was that in many organizations the concept of data-centric business is not yet part of the company culture. Executives have set patterns when making decisions and are reluctant to consider new alternatives. “Cultural, strategic and operational hurdles await those that tackle Big Data and analytics without a fleshed-out plan and executive support.”
How can companies reap the benefits of Big Data analysis without encountering the executives slamming the door?
Many decisions are made based on subjective feelings and then rely on data to justify the decision rationality. Deploying data-driven decision making in the company culture requires business analyst with expertise in emerging technologies, data thinking and business mindset.
The business analyst needs to know how to handle data analysis as well as what data can be used to support decision, where to find the data, what conclusions can be drawn from the data, and how to present the results to the executives.
Taking advantage of Big Data requires a corporation culture change, and this change will rely on cooperation between analysts and management. Data activities should not be isolated from the decision-making process. As organizations create and store more transactional data in digital form, to obtain competitive advantages in the market, companies should consider using data to support and inform their decisions.
