Magazine Fall 2010 Big Idea: Competing With Data & Analytics

10 Data Points:
Information and Analytics at Work

Early returns are in from the first annual New Intelligent Enterprise Survey. Here are major highlights of what executives and managers said about how they are — or are not — capitalizing on information.

Nina Kruschwitz and Rebecca Shockley Reading Time: 5 min 

Competing With Data & Analytics

How does data inform business processes, offerings, and engagement with customers? This research looks at trends in the use of analytics, the evolution of analytics strategy, optimal team composition, and new opportunities for data-driven innovation.
More in this series
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Image courtesy of Flickr user Solo.

The New Intelligent Enterprise inquiry is all about the intensifying wave of data that organizations are facing, and its implications for managers. Companies are becoming data driven in ways that are new, raw and — in many cases — untested. And now so are we: We’re trying something new by letting the data come first, without a lot of editing or parsing. Here is a slice of the raw goods, a kind of behind-the-scenes look at the data we gathered from our survey of nearly 3,000 managers and executives from every major industry and all regions of the globe. (Also see “10 Insights: A First Look at The New Intelligent Enterprise Survey.”)

We chose these 10 charts to share because they captured our attention. Some are provocative, some are telling, and some raise questions we haven’t even tried to answer yet. They’re by no means comprehensive, and our final report will cover many more points accompanied by rigorous analysis. But we do think you’ll find these graphics worth a look if for no other reason than that they allow you to do some immediate benchmarking. How does your organization compare with others? What are your peers doing, and how might that influence decisions you’re considering right now?

SPECIAL REPORT

This article is a preview of the full report: Analytics: The New Path to Value

The survey respondents answered two questions that allowed us to group them and their answers in some interesting ways. One question asked them to assess where their organization is along the journey to an ideal state: an organization that has been “transformed by better ways to collect, analyze and be prescriptively guided by information.” Those that were farthest along that path we deemed Sophisticates; those who were midway became Intermediates; while those that were just beginning to look at data and analytics we called Starters.

We also asked them to describe their organization’s competitive position. Those that rated themselves as substantially outperforming their industry peers we named Top Performers. Those that were underperforming we labeled Lower Performers. You’ll note both groups called out in the accompanying charts.

1. Innovation is the Top Business Challenge

Innovation is the Top Business Challenge

Competing With Data & Analytics

How does data inform business processes, offerings, and engagement with customers? This research looks at trends in the use of analytics, the evolution of analytics strategy, optimal team composition, and new opportunities for data-driven innovation.
More in this series

About the Authors

Nina Kruschwitz is Special Projects Editor at MIT Sloan Management Review and Rebecca Shockley is IBM Institute for Business Value Global Lead for Business Analytics and Optimization.

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Comments (6)
Bruce L Warren
Like the article very much and it direction.  I believe chart 4 has consistent title conclusion and supporting data. However the narrative for the chart says you are comparing top and lower performers with regard to sophistication when in fact you are comparing sophisticates and starters with regard to performance.  An important but very frequent error.

#8 has a problem that the narrative talks about performance level but the graph is label sophisticates and starters. Obviously the two variables are not the same.

One last point toward the main point that "we need more ways to present data so that more people can understand them."  Using the green and orange palette throughout the article and into the next article makes for a good looking publication but in looses the value of color in helping one understand the data.  Orange means one thing in some charts and nothing or something else in others.  

I look forward to you future articles and the next issue of the Review.
Viktor O. Ledenyov
The use of new algorithms for data management during cloud computing over quantum computers networks changes the definition of new intelligent enterprise completely.

Viktor O. Ledenyov, Ukraine
Arpan Kar
I work on using BI & OR to optimize E-Business.
This is really neat information. Thanks.
Jaime Arturo Coral
I am a consultant in Business Intelligence and this is a great work from the MIT to show that organizations need to analyse, use the information to be competitive it is the base the key to be successful. Thank you.
David Dandaneau
Nick, This is excellent material, as I am working on a similar study in relation to the data that you have presented, only different variables. Could you provide me with the link or PDF file, in case I would like to use your presented materials in a future class assignment or part of my dissertation proposal? Thanks in advance-- David
Dr. Jac Fitz-enz
Nick
Very interesting study.  I introduced basic metrics and later benchmarking and analytics to HR in 1978.  My latest book is on predictive analytics and contains 16 essays and case studies: The New HR Analytics.  You might find it interesting.  See also the website.
Jac