Executives prioritise data over instinct

PARIS: Brand owners are increasingly relying on hard data rather than instinct or experience to make strategic decisions, a poll of executives has shown.

Of the 600 senior managers surveyed by Capgemini, a consultancy, for the report, two-thirds said they believed they worked for a "data-driven" company. A similar total (65%) said the proportion of corporate decisions taken on the basis of "hard analytic information" was rising.

By contrast, a clear majority (54%) said that decisions taken due to a manager's personal intuition or prior experience were "suspect".

The strong support for data also came despite almost half (42%) of respondents agreeing that data analysis made decision-making slower, and 67% expressing concern about the accuracy of the data they used as a basis for their decisions.

Just over half (51%) also complained about the lack of qualified data analysts available to corporations.

Paul Nannetti, global sales and portfolio director at Capgemini, said: "The exploitation of Big Data fuels a step change in the quality of business decision-making.

"Genuinely data-driven companies are able to monitor customer behaviors and market conditions with greater certainty, and react with speed and effectiveness to differentiate from competition."

The popularity of data-driven decision-making varied from category to category, according to the Capgemini poll.

Data sourced from Capgemini; additional content by Warc staff, 13 June 2012

SIMILAR NEWS