Product Description

You have more information at hand about your business environment than ever before. But are you using it to “out-think” your rivals? If not, you may be missing out on a potent competitive tool.

In Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning , Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris argue that the frontier for using data to make decisions has shifted dramatically. Certain high-performing enterprises are now building their competitive strategies around data-driven insights that in turn generate impressive business results. Their secret weapon? Analytics: sophisticated quantitative and statistical analysis and predictive modeling.

Exemplars of analytics are using new tools to identify their most profitable customers and offer them the right price, to accelerate product innovation, to optimize supply chains, and to identify the true drivers of financial performance. A wealth of examples—from organizations as diverse as Amazon, Barclay’s, Capital One, Harrah’s, Procter & Gamble, Wachovia, and the Boston Red Sox—illuminate how to leverage the power of analytics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2624 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-06
• Released on: 2007-03-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
"...the traditional ways of seeking competitive advantage are redundant and...the future lies with the ability to analyse the very considerable volumes of data it amasses about itself." --The Financial Times, April 18, 2007

"Competing on Analytics" is hardly the last word on the matter, but it is a useful primer for a business field that seems likely only to grow in importance. --The Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2007

Intuition is useful in business. But...it isn't enough --The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2007

From the Back Cover

In a world where traditional bases of competitive advantage have largely evaporated, how do you separate your company's performance from the pack? Use analytics to make better decisions and extract maximum value from your business process.

In Competing on Analytics: the New Science of Winning,Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris argue that the frontier of using data has shifted dramatically. Leading companies are doing more than just collecting and storing information in large quantities. They’re now building their competitive strategies around data-driven insights that are, in turn, generating impressive business results. Their secret weapon? Analytics: sophisticated quantitative and statistical analysis and predictive modeling supported by data-savvy senior leaders and powerful information technology.

Why compete on analytics? At a time when companies in many industries offer similar products and use similar technology, distinctive business processes count among the last remaining points of differentiation. Many previous bases for competition—such as geographical advantage or protective regulation—have been eroded by globalization. Proprietary technologies are rapidly copied, and breakthrough innovations in products or services are increasingly difficult to achieve.

That leaves three things as the basis for competition: efficient and effective execution, smart decision making, and the ability to wring every last drop of value from business processes—all of which can be gained through sophisticated use of analytics.

Davenport and Harris show how exemplars—organizations as diverse as the Boston Red Sox, Netflix, Amazon.com, CEMEX, Capital One, Harrah’s Entertainment, Procter & Gamble, and Best Buy—are using new tools to trump rivals. Through analytics, these companies identify their most profitable customers, accelerate product innovation, optimize supply chains and pricing, and leverage the true drivers of financial performance.

A timely, much needed resource, Competing on Analytics promises to rewrite the rules of competition.

About the Author
Thomas H. Davenport is the President s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College. Jeanne G. Harris is Executive Research Fellow and Director of Research for the Accenture Institute for High Performance Business.

Customer Reviews

Five stars but... for the right audience!
I was excited by the title, some of the reviews and rushed to buy this. Read it quite fast and got little disappointed. Probably the correct title could be ''Advocacy for Competing on Analytics''. To be clear, the book is very good if you are: a student, a junior project manager, a junior consultant, a manager looking for Business Intelligence ideas, an expert looking for tools to sell analytics, or Business Intelligence, to your top managers.
If you are experienced in using analytics, design and use data collection tools, or using Business Intelligence, the book might bring you little value. I was constantly reading it and looking forward for the real meat, but it didn't really appeared. I certainly will keep it to use as a reference in the future, but still looking for books to provide deeper insights on the subject.

Great Concept - Too Long
This book could be about half as long and just as effective. After you get through the first few chapters you're pretty much rehashing the same things, but overally the book makes good points.

A Panacea for Information Overload
Davenport and Harris have brought a new thinking in business science. They have expanded on CRM also.

In his book, White Nose, Don DeLillo asks "What good is knowledge if it just floats in the air? It goes from computer to computer, but nobody actually knows anything?" Now, with Competing on Analytics, business leaders will know what to do with the huge information they gather, and yet, do nothing with; and infact, too much information which sometimes becomes counterprodustive.

The winning strategies for top businesses must truly be guided by a well-instituted, abundantly erudite and highly analytical processes. Instead of looking backward at their business performances and making retrospective adjustments, the winning businesses must be the ones that have systems to make accurate forecasts of future performance (financial and nonfinancial) so they can react in advance of situations. Rather than throwing money, time and effort at business problems or mass marketing, they'll seek to optimize their use of capital using foreknowledge and exactitude. The days of using gut feel or intuition for strategic calculations are over. (Nwankama W Nwankama, Intelligence Analyst).