Decision-making process while using data analytics

Data-driven decision making it its extreme

“Decision makers do not necessarily need to understand the phenomenon before they act on it.

In other words: first comes the analytical fact, then the action, and last, if at all, the understanding.

For example, [a retail company] may change the product placement in its stores based on correlations without the need to know why the change will have a positive impact on its revenue.

As Anderson (2008) explains: ‘Who knows why people do what they do? The point is they do it, and we can track and measure it with unprecedented fidelity.’”

Source: OECD (2015), Data-Driven Innovation: Big Data for Growth and Well-Being, OECD Publishing, Paris.