Many organizations must adapt to survive digital disruption. One approach is digital transformation. The quest for transformation is a journey and the destination is not fixed. Rather senior managers must envision a data-centric organization and encourage data-based decision-making processes.
Data-based decision making is an ongoing process of collecting and analyzing different types of data from diverse sources. Building better decision support and using analytics is an enabler of more effective decision making and digital transformation. Digital transformation changes people’s behavior, organizational processes, and technologies to enhance performance and better meet customer needs. Using data becomes part of an organization’s culture and managers learn to use data and analytics appropriately for each decision situation. Analytics and decision support become pervasive and enhance data-based decision making.
Digital disruption is like a tidal wave. Managers must learn to act quickly using data. To succeed in the long-run, managers must ensure that data is used ethically. Both data visualization and data story telling can assist managers in directing the digital journey. Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning are tools to make processes faster and smarter.
Middle managers using data-based decision-making are the key to successfully implementing a digital vision.
Keywords
analytics, artificial intelligence, big data, business intelligence, competitive advantage, data, data storytelling, data-based decision making, decision making, decision support, decision support systems, digital transformation, IoT, machine learning, managers, visualization