BIG DATA: The Management Revolution (HBR)

Big Data:

The management revolution

Improvements in technology have meant mostly one thing for companies in the latest years: Data. Nowadays, is easier than ever for stores and companies to understand the behavior of clients, such as when are they more likely to buy certain things or how do they go through shopping websites, the amount of data we can have of a single customer is enormous now a days. But, why is this important? Picasso once said that “Computer only give answers” and he was right, the big deal of having such big amounts of information doesn’t lay in having that information, it lays on knowing how to use it in our advantage. This is way Amazon is one of the biggest retail stores in the current market, because since the early beginnings of their websites they knew how to use the information they gathered from their customers. And even better, enterprises are know able to make real-time, improved decisions. Harvard performed an study along MIT researchers, they were looking to prove that data-driven companies performed better that the ones that didn’t; the result, data-driven did perform better. We can take as an example the improvement in Airline’s ETAs, researchers found that there was always a 10 minute gap between estimated time of arrival and the actual time, RightETA stepped up and started to calculate this information with live weather forecasts and flight schedules, along air traffic in the airport of arrival, this changes are cutting down the loses in a company. Although data analysis simplifies many decision taking, it is a fact that the world currently needs more people that really do know how to understand the information they are been given. Finally, as said before we understand that not only companies are going through usage of data changes, but they are also changing the way they make decisions, which would mainly include: not relying in the HiPPOS, having people prepared to ask the right questions (such as, I have this information, how can I use it in order to improve my sales?). As for the managerial challenges, leadership, technology, decision-making and company culture will most likely be influenced.

The data shows that in a couple years, the big companies will be the major companies in the industry.

Main Ideas:

• Information isn’t equal to success. If data isn’t correctly interpreted, it is useless. The right questions are need to use data successfully.

• Data is one of the most accurate methods to understand the customer needs and to improve in the market. Decisions that are data-driven are most likely to be the right decisions.

Definitions:

• HiPPOS: Highest Person’s Opinion.

• CTO: Chief Technology Officer.

Opinion:

I really liked this article, it was really accurate to what we are currently living. I honestly do think that in a couple of years

...