2017: The year executives turned data into action

5 March 2017

In 2017 senior managers have the opportunity to challenge every aspect of their business and look for ways to radically improve with better analytics.

Senior managers must fully realize they are preventing their organizations from making better data-driven decisions. They need to understand the barriers are not data availability, quality or connectivity, nor that advanced analytics are too difficult to implement. Rather, they now must muster the conviction to challenge every aspect of their business and look for ways to radically improve with better analytics.

To be sure, “big data” has been hyped for years. Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics, brilliantly described “big data” review as similar to that of teenagers discussing sex: everyone talks about it without knowing quite what it is and claiming to have experience with it because everyone else does.

In a few companies, nearly every decision revolves around data analytics. Some have used superior algorithms to improve decision making in credit scoring or category management years before their competitors.

Amazingly, it’s still rare to see “big impact through big data.” Within a group representing major companies, 75 percent of the analytics leaders told us they have achieved less than 1 percent of cost or revenue improvement. Why? Earlier this year we at McKinsey conducted a global survey asking executives about the effectiveness of their data and analytics programs. Of those surveyed, 86 percent were not satisfied, and they indicated the biggest challenge is lack of leadership support.

Read More HERE.

Source - McKinsey&Company