Big data’s effects to decision-making

More accurate and faster decisions. The most notifiable effects of big data are that it enables more accurate and faster decisions even in a strategic environment.

The need for complex unstructured information from internal, external, online and offline sources can in certain situations be fulfilled with big data. (Davenport, 2013;

McAfee & Brynjolfsson, 2012) For the decision makers, the ability to use relevant information at a relevant time also speeds up the decision-making process. Right information at the right time is possible due to the new technologies and methods of processing current data in a timely manner. (Constantiou & Kallinikos, 2015; LaValle et al., 2011) These effects were also seen in the case study and they all change the

ways through which strategic decision can and should be made. Aller Media noted that as soon as decisions are made, they can be monitored with data, and adjustments to the decisions are easier to do than before while using big data. The data tells us how the decision performs and how adjustments can be made accordingly. Both the theory and the empirical research implicate that using big data has made it easier to make strategic decisions with better results. This could be due to the combination of better information and that the progress and results of how decisions affect the business is easy to monitor, rather than being forced to wait a long period of time to experience the results of a strategic decision without analytics (LaValle et al., 2011; Mayhew et al. 2016).

Focus on rational decision-making. As it can be implied, big data analytics and the knowledge derived from data helps diminishing the challenges of bounded rationality – the necessity to make fast decisions and the needs for information needs and accurate and reliable data requirements. This has created a shift in the approaches of strategic decision-making. A data-driven approach combined with human decisions and intuition has been recognized to be the most effective method for strategic decision-making. (McAfee & Brynjolfsson, 2012; Chaudhuri, Dayal &

Narasayya, 2011, 88; Brynjolfsson et al., 2011; Davenport, Harris & Morrison 2010, 3) Big data advocates data-driven methods and has undertaken strategic problem context in the leading big data organizations (see figure 7).

Because strategic decision-making in organizations is often a combination of intuition and rational analysis (Wang et al. 2016), it can sometimes lack a degree of reliability in certain business functions relying mostly on intuition (LaValle et al.

2011). Aller Media has noticed that decisions are easier to explain and validate to other employees when they are based on data, rather than the decision makers experience and knowledge. Digitalization and utilizing big data has created possibilities in Aller Media for functions that are traditionally seen as hard to measure, such as certain aspects of marketing like promotion campaigns. LaValle et al. (2011) also found that besides organizations which have substantial experience in analytics, customer experience and brand management functions rarely use analytics.

Intuition still has a part. Aller Media relies on data-driven decision-making in almost every aspect of their organization due to their growing use of big data. Even functions that have not been analytical before, have embraced the advantages of big data. Similar to theory, intuition is still an important part of strategic decision in Aller Media, by the decision maker’s capability to identify the right questions for the data. Utilizing big data in organizational environment requires business knowledge on the activities big data is implemented in, the knowledge displaying in the form of the decision makers intuition. Empirical findings and theory about decision-making processes indicate that the role of intuition has shifted from traditional models.

Traditionally intuition’s role was highlighted when choosing from uncertain alternatives (Calabretta et al. 2016; Dane & Pratt 2007). Big data decision-making highlights intuition’s role in the beginning of the decision process when deciding on what to look for in the data (Davenport & Dyché 2013; the case company interviews).

This indicates that besides shifting decision-making styles to encourage rational decision-making, big data also transforms the way how intuition should be used in the decision-making process.

Hierarchies deal with decision rights. New possibilities through big data have an impact on the hierarchies and decision processes in organizations. McAfee &

Brynjofsson (2012) stress the importance of taking down hierarchies in a sense, that data should be listened over the decision makers own assumptions. Decision-making should not be expert driven but the right experts should have the decision rights and the availability for data (Schrage, 2016). In Aller media the hierarchies have stayed the same, and the decision makers have managing and integrating information from data as an additional responsibility.

Decision processes form dynamic loops. The decision makers who have used analytics in their decision process long before big data did not see major changes in their decision processes. On the other hand, the functions that introduced analytics and big data recently to their decision-making noted that it largely changed the decision-making process. The use of big data highlights technical skills and allows real-time feedback on decision, thus forming dynamic loops of decisions.

These changes are seen and supported by earlier research Mayhew et al. (2016) The effects on decision process seem to prevail according to the degree of digitalization and analytic environment in the organization, department or function in question.