References

1. These figures are for the entire Bridgestone North America retail operation, which includes stores operated under the Firestone name.

2. Third-party data vendors have, and likely will continue to have, a large role in helping companies understand customer behavior. Indeed, Nedbank Group Ltd., the Johannesburg, South Africa-based financial institution, offers a data service to its small- and medium-sized merchant customers, using credit and debit card transactional data. This gives its business customers insights into their own customers that would have been impossible for them to do themselves. However, other companies are becoming less dependent on third-party vendors and are now developing their own data capabilities to build their own distinctive perspectives on their own customers.

3. See also B.H. Wixom and J.W. Ross, “How to Monetize Your Data,” January 9, 2017, https://sloanreview.mit.edu.

4. S. Ransbotham, D. Kiron, and P.K. Prentice, “Beyond the Hype: The Hard Work Behind Analytics Success,” MIT Sloan Management Review, March 2016, https://sloanreview.mit.edu.

5. K. Safdar, “As Gap Struggles, Its Analytical CEO Prizes Data Over Design,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 27, 2016.

6. E. Auchard, “HERE, Automakers Team Up to Share Data on Traffic Conditions,” Sept. 25, 2016, www.reuters.com.

7. L. Winig, GE’s Big Bet on Data and Analytics, MIT Sloan Management Review, February 18, 2016, https://sloanreview.mit.edu.

8. T.H. Davenport, “IT Drinking Its Own Automation Champagne,” Nov. 10, 2016, http://data-informed.com.

9. J. Manyika, M. Chui, M. Miremadi, J. Bughin, K. George, P. Willmott, and M. Dewhurst, “A Future That Works: Automation, Employment, and Productivity,” January 2017, www.mckinsey.com.

About the Authors

Sam Ransbotham is an associate professor in the Information Systems Department at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, as well as guest editor for MIT Sloan Management Review’s Data & Analytics Big Ideas Initiative.

David Kiron is the executive editor of MIT Sloan Management Review.

Contributor

Nina Kruschwitz is the senior project manager and digital editor for MIT Sloan Management Review.

The authors conducted the research and analysis for this report as part of an MIT Sloan Management Review research initiative sponsored by SAS.

To cite this report, please use: S. Ransbotham and D. Kiron, “Analytics as a Source of Business Innovation,” MIT Sloan Management Review, February 2017.

Acknowledgments

Ravi Bapna, Carlson Chair in Business Analytics and Information Systems, University of Minnesota

Ken Cartwright, senior director of software development, Transaction Network Services

Chris Chen, core technology global engineering leader, W.L. Gore & Associates

Peter Fader, professor, University of Pennsylvania

Nathan Falkenborg, global cards and loans analytics leader, HSBC

Alvin Glay, head of digital marketing, Wahoo Fitness

Sean Kent, director, product management, Transaction Network Services

Peter Levin, senior research scientist, Intel

Joe Malfesi, vice president, Infrastructure Services, Transaction Network Services

Kristina McElheran, assistant professor of strategy, University of Toronto

Keith Moody, director of analytics, Bridgestone Retail Operations

Omar Selim, CEO, Arabesque Partners

Kevin Swindon, special agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation