To be “enterprising” is to be eager to undertake or to attempt. To show initiative and be resourceful. These are leadership traits, so to be enterprising is to lead. ‘Analytics’ is how we use data to inform decision making, in the context of achieving business objectives. These are management practices, so analytics is about management.
“Enterprising analytics” is about being creative, resourceful and adventurous with decision-making to achieve business objectives. It is about the set of leadership and management practices that need to be in place for an organization to make the most of its analytics investment.
Throwing facts together
There are no facts about the future. There are only facts about the past. The only thing we know about the future is conjecture. Conjecture means “an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information.” The Latin root of conjecture meant to “throw facts together.” When the word entered English it meant “interpret signs and omens”, which isn’t how most business leaders want to make strategy.
But, unfortunately, it’s how most of us do our strategy work in general, let alone our data strategy. We throw facts together and interpret omens in elaborate rituals (i.e. business meetings). Business leaders are often sold on the merits of predictive analytics as mitigation for this problem. But predictive analytics can simply mean moving from reading your daily stars to calculating your natal birth chart. Applying more rigor to a flawed technique doesn’t improve the technique.
Read More from This Article: IDG Contributor Network: Data governance moves past throwing facts together
Source: IT Strategy