Assessing the Overall Impact of Data Analytics on Company Decision Making and Innovation

Abstract

To assess the impact of big data analytics (BDA) on company decision making, data was collected from 225 company top managers and chief data officers in charge of the BDA group to empirically test this relationship. The data represents a sample of companies which have formally implemented BDA for at least three years with varying degrees of success. Despite considerable differences from company to company, on average the results corroborated the importance of the BDA function along four dimensions (BDA tools and methods, personnel technical proficiency, company readiness, and applications quality) in supporting company decision making toward business innovation. Managers responsible for implementing BDA in their companies should seriously consider these findings to improve the likelihood of success in their projects. The results also call for the identification of other potential determinants for BDA success as a tool for company innovation, as well as potential moderators and mediators for inclusion in a more comprehensive model.