It's not all about gut instinct

Business analytics – are they worth the time, effort and cost? The answer is yes, if you want fully understand your organisation, help it prosper…and not rely on gut instinct.

So says Dr Pietro Micheli, Professor of Business Performance and Innovation at Warwick Business School, who has authored a new guide for Crown Workforce Management Systems www.crownworkforcemanagement.com/demystifying-business-analytics

Putting the science behind experience and intuition will provide an “evidence-based” approach to business planning on which success can be built, he insists.

In the second in a series of vlogs to accompany the free guide, Dr Micheli, looks at the reasons businesses should invest in business analytics.

“For a start, we want to understand what we have done: understand our performance, how efficient and effective we have been and how we have utilised resources. That basic understanding can be greatly supported by using the leverage of data and analysing and communicating it in the appropriate way,” he says.

This allows business leaders to make informed decisions around key functions which can help reduce costs and improve efficiency.

An investment in analytics can also help an organisation manage risk and help it plan for the future, Dr Micheli advises. For example, in demand management by identifying the scenarios that may occur and putting in place people and processes to respond effectively.

“This is where analytics again can be very helpful because it can assist us in understanding how to progress from where we are today to where we want to be tomorrow,” he adds.

“By doing so, we can have a much better understanding of what we are doing that is not just relying on experience and intuition. To improve our decision-making, it is fundamental to complement these with something that is more evidence-based and this is where analytics can be very powerful.”

To view the ‘Why Should We Invest in Business Analytics’ vlog see below