Eric Haller, '18SPS, Technology Management, recently co-authored an article on data-driven decision-making for Harvard Business Review. Entitled "Data-Driven Decisions Start with These 4 Questions," the article struck a chord on social media and now has been adapted into an interactive webinar hosted Feb. 26 by Haller, who is Executive Vice President and Global Head of Experian DataLabs.
Co-authored with the innovation thought leader and author Greg Satell, Haller’s article urges business leaders to be more thoughtful about how they approach data and analytics.
“If used wisely, [data] can offer a true competitive edge and take a business in completely new directions. To achieve that, however, you can’t start merely looking for answers. You have to learn how to ask new questions.”
Noting that spending on data and analytics is projected to hit $274.3 billion in the next two years, Haller and Satell write that “as many as 85% of big data projects fail.” Although businesses have ever greater access to huge volumes of data, “we rarely ask where it came from, how it’s been modified, or whether it’s fit for the purpose intended.”
The article goes on to outline the four crucial things to consider before working with data: how it was sourced, how it was analyzed, what it leaves out, and how it might be used to redesign products and business models.
Read the full article and learn more about Columbia’s M.S. in Technology Management program.
