English | EN Business Analytics 2014: Yes to 5 Qs, and a Need for Culture and Speed
May 15, 2014
Organizations that are successful with analytics continue to invest in their analytical skills and technology to stay ahead of the curve. But perhaps the key point is that they foster the right analytics culture, are open to new ways of thinking and change the way they do business. Achieving and sustaining competitive momentum is hard work, so there definitely also is a need for speed. Come on and join the Analytical Innovators!
Fourth Annual Survey
To deepen overall understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of business analytics, MIT Sloan Management Review, in partnership with SAS Institute Inc., has conducted its fourth annual survey, to which over 2,000 business executives, managers and analysts responded from organizations located around the world.
In the report, the term “analytics” refers to the use of data and related business insights developed through applied analytical disciplines (e.g., statistical, contextual, quantitative, predictive, cognitive and other models) to drive fact-based planning, decisions, execution, management, measurement and learning.
Analytical Innovators say YES!
It turns out that innovation is crucial to understanding how companies are using analytics to create substantial business value. The Analytical Innovators’ answers to five straightforward questions offer a roadmap for how to build analytics programs that will continually innovate and help keep their companies ahead of the competition. These questions are:
1. Is my organization open to new ideas that challenge current practice?
2. Does my organization view data as a core asset?
3. Is senior management driving the organization to become more data-driven and analytical?
4. Is my organization using analytical insights to guide strategy?
5. Are we willing to let analytics help change the way we do business?
These five questions follow a natural progression. If a company is not open to new ideas, it won’t be receptive to counterintuitive ideas that can address the discontinuous change some market shifts require. Even if it is open to new ideas, data won’t impact strategy unless senior management views its company’s data assets and analytics skills as an important source of value.
Not Only Speed, Culture Also
“The Need for Culture” provides evidence that an advanced analytics culture outweighs other analytics-related factors, including data management technologies and skills, in companies that strongly agree they are gaining an advantage from analytics. Essentially, a strong analytics culture is the lynchpin in moving from competitive parity to competitive advantage. Nonetheless, an effective analytics culture is built on the backs of more advanced data management processes, technologies and talent. There is no analytics culture without the skills and talent to ensure that the data and insights are worth accessing and sharing. Together, analytics culture, data management processes and technologies and skills or talent are the main components of an organization’s analytics capability.
Source: 2014 Data & Analytics Global Executive Study and Research Project – The Analytics Mandate
Read it all from MIT Sloan Management Review and SAS Institute Inc.
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