The Analytics Revolution

CHAPTER 9 The Analytics Culture

Organizations continuously change and evolve their corporate cultures. The use of analytics has already forced a change of culture in many organizations from one of gut-feel decisions to one of fact-based decisions. Shifting to operational analytics will require even more culture change because of the way that operational analytics are more embedded and automated than analytics of the past.

In this chapter, we explore cultural issues that must be considered as an organization attempts to make analytics operational. Many of the themes apply more broadly both within the analytics space and beyond, and most won't be new to readers. However, the themes all apply and are worth reviewing if an organization is going to succeed with operational analytics. To create an analytics culture that embraces operational analytics, four ingredients are required:

1. Proper mind-set
2. Effective policies
3. Facilitation of success
4. Enabling and handling of failure

Instilling the Proper Mind-Set

The way people within an organization are encouraged to think sets the tone for everything else that happens. Over time, certain mind-sets permeate an organization, and most people fall in line with what is expected and accepted, whether good or bad. Jolting the status quo and forcing new ways of thinking from time to time is necessary so that complacency doesn't set in. Acknowledging this need is an important step, and being prepared for it is the first part of the battle. Let's ...