Everyone’s talking about predictive analytics, Big Data, yadda yadda. The good news is, many institutions and organizations in our sector are indeed making investments in analytics and inching towards becoming data-driven. I have to wonder, though, how much of current investment is based on hype, and how much is going to fall away when data is no longer a hot thing.
Becoming a data-driven organization is a journey, not a destination. Forward progress is not inevitable, and it is possible for an office, a department or an institution to slip backward on the path, even when it seems they’ve “arrived”. In order for analytics to mature from a cutting-edge “nice-to-have” into a regular part of operations, the enterprise needs to be aware of its returns to the bottom line.
In my view, current investments in analytics are often done for reasons that are well-intentioned but vague: It seems to be the right thing to do these days … we see others doing it, so we feel we need to as well … we have an agenda for innovation and this fits the bill … and so on. I’m glad to see the investment, but not every promising innovation gets to stick around. Demonstrating ability to generate revenue — either through savings or through identifying new sources of revenue — will carry the day in the long run.
As I write this, I hear the jangle of railway bells at the level crossing in the early-morning dark outside my hotel room on the city’s downtown waterfront. I’m in Seattle today to attend the DRIVE 2013 conference, hosted by the University of Washington. I’ll be speaking on this topic — the “analytic” investment — later today. I have to admit to having struggled with making the session relevant for this group. For one, they don’t need convincing that making the investment is worth it. And second, if they think that I and my employer have figured out how to calculate the return on investment for analytics programs, they may be in for a disappointment. We have not.
In fact, when it comes right down to it, I like to spend my day working on cool things, interesting problems that face our department, and not so much on stuff that sounds like accounting (“ROI”). I’m betting many of the attendees of my session feel the same way. So I’ll be asking them to stop thinking about how they can get their managers, directors and vice presidents to understand the language of data and analytics. They’ll be far more successful if they try to speak the language their bosses respond to: Return on investment.
I may be a little short on answers for you, but I do have some pretty good questions.
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