|
What do high-performance businesses such as Netflix, Harrah’s Entertainment, the global cement giant CEMEX, Capital One, and the New England Patriots football team have in common? They are all analytical competitors – organizations that use analytics extensively and systematically to out-think and out-execute the competition.
 New in March, Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning describes how a select but growing number of companies are successfully building an analytical capability. (Meaning: the strategic and extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions.) The book, by knowledge management expert Tom Davenport and Accenture research fellow Jeanne Harris, also highlights the key attributes and capabilities that an organization needs in order to become an analytical competitor.
Why compete on analytics? At a time when companies in many industries offer similar products and use comparable technology, many of the previous bases for competition are no longer viable. Accenture has found that analytical strength can have a direct impact a company’s ability to generate a new competitive advantage. In a global survey of 450 executives in medium to large organizations conducted in 2005, Accenture discovered that high-performance businesses are 50 percent more likely to use analytics strategically compared with the overall sample and five times as likely as low performers.
At just 186 pages, Competing on Analytics, from Harvard Business School Press, is a quick and persuasive read. It is packed with lively anecdotes from all over the worlds of business and professional sports and is strongly prescriptive in its approach. If your organization still relies too heavily on gut feel for key decisions, this is one publication that you should seek out and make time to read.
|
 |
