Business Analytics for Managers: Taking Business Intelligence beyond Reporting

Chapter 2. Business Analytics at the Strategic Level

This is the first of five chapters that describe the business analytics (BA) model. The chapter focuses on the strategic level and is primarily written for those who deliver or request information in connection with the development of business strategies.

We present a number of scenarios that have a varying degree of coordination between the development of strategies in a company and the role of BA. While reading the scenarios, reflect on where your organization is based on these perspectives. Similarly, consider where in this context your strategies fit. It also makes sense to consider whether the organization has understood and achieved the full potential inherent in BA and, if not, whether more effort should be put into driving the deployment of BA. Other angles from which to read this chapter are: Where are my competitors today? What kind of market will we be operating in five years from now? And, if the market is significantly changed compared to today, do we intend to lead or follow the competition on the information front?

The focus of this chapter is therefore not on how to develop a business strategy; many other books describe this very well. Instead, our aim is to demonstrate important relationships between overall business strategies and the information that the BA function can deliver in this context. Behind all the discussions, there are always the two key questions: How can the BA function influence the overall strategy ...