Business intelligence software products are now more capable which may mean that technically it is now possible to implement enterprise business decision systems. However the mind set of senior management is likely to see this as a technical rather than a strategic issue and pass responsibility down the management structure. This may be especially so when one considers the level of mathematical understanding of senior management in the banks that allowed the “quants” to create the risky products that senior management did not understand The results all but destroyed the financial system.
Senior management without mathematical backgrounds therefore have good reason to be particularly wary now of statistical and mathematical analysis. However if senior managers can be persuaded to read Analytics at Work and its companion Competing on Analytics then they will see that the idea has real strategic benefits.
Analytics at Work is Based on a DELTA Framework and Staying Analytical
The authors build their implementation approach around the DELTA framework which is explained in Part 1, The Analytical DELTA. The Appendix explores the maturity of an analytical organisation through stages of transition in developing the DELTA capability. DELTA is explained in chapters covering:
- Data – The Prerequisite for Everything
- Enterprise – Integrating Across Organization Silos
- Leadership – The Deciding DELTA Factor
- Targets – Picking Your Spots for Analytics
- Analysts – Managing Scarce and Valuable
The final part of Analytics at Work is about the ongoing use and development of the analytical capability and culture to build an analytical organisation built on sound business intelligence and decision making fundamentals. The chapters cover:
- Embed Analytics in Business Processes
- Build an Analytical Culture
- Review Your Business Comprehensively
- Meeting Challenges Along the Way
- Towards More Analytical Decisions and Better Results
So the authors recognise and stress the importance of ongoing business change. For them is very much about business strategy and operational processes underpinned by both an analytical culture and technical capability. The challenge is getting business leaders to reach the same view.
Implementation and Operation of Analytics for Fact-based Decision Making
Analytics at Work recognises that fact based decision making is not a panacea and sometimes speed, or other factors, rather than accuracy is essential for the best decisions. The focus is not just on implementing business intelligence software products but the shaping and delivering the business change that analytics and the essential technology must support. It is about a strengthened philosophy of improving results through better management decision processes that are embedded in the day to day operations of the business.
Analytics at Work is an easy read and provides a useful framework for implementing and operating enterprise-wide data analytics, strategic business intelligence and fact based management decision making processes. Gertting it read by senior strategic management whose support, understanding and authority is essential to make it happen is arguable.
If the leadership support is there then Analytics at Work provides a useful guide for the more technical and functional management who will have responsibility for implementing the business and technology changes needed.
The Authors
Thomas G Davenport is the Presidents Distinguished Professor of Information Technology at Babson College.
Jeanne G. Harris is Executive Research Fellow and a senior executive at Accenture's Institute for High Performance in Chicago.
Robert Morison has extensive experience over twenty year of business research in professional service firms.
Analytics at Work, Smarter Decision, Better Results (ISBN: 2010,978-1-4221-7769-3) by Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris and Robert Morison is published in hardback by Harvard Business Press at $29.95.
Martin P Wilson - Martin is a director of major business change & turnaround consultant by profession but a widely published writer & photographer by ...
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