“To T. S. Eliot’s prescient words ‘Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?’ we might now add, ‘Where is the information we have lost in data?’”
That’s Paul Nicholas’ (Director, Soul-Chaplain Consultancy) reaction after reading most of the responses to this month’s column. It’s not a bad “sense of the meeting,” in which many contributors offered suggestions to managers wishing to get the most out of so-called big data and avoid paying the price of paralysis in the process. The challenges Big Data pose for managers include “identifying which data are relevant” (Subrata Chakraborty, a retired professor of management) and “seeing through the woods to know what to use and what not” (Pieter J. de Beer, Senior Partner, De Beer & Keulder Legal Practitioners). Scott Waller (VP, M/A/R/C Research) expressed the fear that “the age of Big Data seems to be arriving at the time of death for the Big Thinker.” Gerald Nanninga (Founder, Planninga from Nanninga) cautioned us that “the big risk is that it gives executives a false sense of comfort.” Clifford Francis Baker (Chair, Neffel Corporation) added, “My concern is primarily focused on the possibility of complacency…data derived from data analytics must…be handled with care.” Mok Tuck Sung (Owner, Profit Tools) commented that “technology and knowledge advancement have again developed faster than the managers’ and business owners’ capabilities to leverage its usefulness in their decision making process.” Philippe Gouamba (Vice President – Human Resources, Skyline Windows, LLC) reminded us that “perfection is but an illusion… A successful outcome is almost never the result of perfect information.”
Among the suggestions for managers were these: 1. Help “data analysers consume and translate the data” (Scott Kemme, Senior Business Analyst, ClickFox, who also suggested an alternative title for the column, which I instead used above);
2. Know “what not to look at” (Phillip Clark of Clark & Associates);
3. Work to reduce turnover among business analysts who “tend to be lower level employees and have a high turnover,” creating a “losing battle” through the loss of “institutional data knowledge” (Kim Kraemer, Data Architect, USG Corporation);
4. Avoid the belief that “whatever is new will solve their problems,” concentrating on the appropriate application of Big Data (Seena Sharp, Executive Director, Sharp Market Intelligence);
5. Avoid allowing Big Data to remain the “purview of the select few” only for use for one-off and one-time decisions” (Jonathan Spier, Entrepreneur in Residence, Altos Ventures);
6. Maintain the attitude that “fast is better than perfect” (Mike Flanagan a Purchasing Manager by profession);
7. Avoid the temptation of harvesting just the “’low hanging fruit’ rather than waiting for the analysts to gain understanding (presumably of the decisions to be made)” (Sean O’Riordain of Trinity College, Dublin);
8. Rather than concentrating on the data, focus on “being able to formulate the right questions to ask at precisely the right moment” (Edward Hare, Retired Director – Strategy and Planning, Fortune 250 Manufacturer).
Tom Dolembo (Founder, New North Institute) drew a picture of direct process control in which decisions have to be made “in the flow” in situations where there isn’t time for conventional analysis (at least by humans). Is this a glimpse into the future of decision-making (without analysis paralysis) based on big data for a widening range of decisions or is it confined to a special set of conditions? Will access to Big Data further enable fact-based decision making or analysis paralysis?
That’s Paul Nicholas’ (Director, Soul-Chaplain Consultancy) reaction after reading most of the responses to this month’s column. It’s not a bad “sense of the meeting,” in which many contributors offered suggestions to managers wishing to get the most out of so-called big data and avoid paying the price of paralysis in the process. The challenges Big Data pose for managers include “identifying which data are relevant” (Subrata Chakraborty, a retired professor of management) and “seeing through the woods to know what to use and what not” (Pieter J. de Beer, Senior Partner, De Beer & Keulder Legal Practitioners). Scott Waller (VP, M/A/R/C Research) expressed the fear that “the age of Big Data seems to be arriving at the time of death for the Big Thinker.” Gerald Nanninga (Founder, Planninga from Nanninga) cautioned us that “the big risk is that it gives executives a false sense of comfort.” Clifford Francis Baker (Chair, Neffel Corporation) added, “My concern is primarily focused on the possibility of complacency…data derived from data analytics must…be handled with care.” Mok Tuck Sung (Owner, Profit Tools) commented that “technology and knowledge advancement have again developed faster than the managers’ and business owners’ capabilities to leverage its usefulness in their decision making process.” Philippe Gouamba (Vice President – Human Resources, Skyline Windows, LLC) reminded us that “perfection is but an illusion… A successful outcome is almost never the result of perfect information.”
Among the suggestions for managers were these: 1. Help “data analysers consume and translate the data” (Scott Kemme, Senior Business Analyst, ClickFox, who also suggested an alternative title for the column, which I instead used above);
2. Know “what not to look at” (Phillip Clark of Clark & Associates);
3. Work to reduce turnover among business analysts who “tend to be lower level employees and have a high turnover,” creating a “losing battle” through the loss of “institutional data knowledge” (Kim Kraemer, Data Architect, USG Corporation);
4. Avoid the belief that “whatever is new will solve their problems,” concentrating on the appropriate application of Big Data (Seena Sharp, Executive Director, Sharp Market Intelligence);
5. Avoid allowing Big Data to remain the “purview of the select few” only for use for one-off and one-time decisions” (Jonathan Spier, Entrepreneur in Residence, Altos Ventures);
6. Maintain the attitude that “fast is better than perfect” (Mike Flanagan a Purchasing Manager by profession);
7. Avoid the temptation of harvesting just the “’low hanging fruit’ rather than waiting for the analysts to gain understanding (presumably of the decisions to be made)” (Sean O’Riordain of Trinity College, Dublin);
8. Rather than concentrating on the data, focus on “being able to formulate the right questions to ask at precisely the right moment” (Edward Hare, Retired Director – Strategy and Planning, Fortune 250 Manufacturer).
Tom Dolembo (Founder, New North Institute) drew a picture of direct process control in which decisions have to be made “in the flow” in situations where there isn’t time for conventional analysis (at least by humans). Is this a glimpse into the future of decision-making (without analysis paralysis) based on big data for a widening range of decisions or is it confined to a special set of conditions? Will access to Big Data further enable fact-based decision making or analysis paralysis?
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