Companies turning to machines to help them make decisions

Companies are turning to machines to help them make decisions as they try to gain a competitive advantage in business, according to a new survey.

PwC’s 2016 Big Decisions Survey states, however, that although companies can see the power of the technology, less than a third are using predictive analytics, leaving room for improvement.

The survey questioned more than 2,100 decision-makers in companies across 15 industries, from banking and capital markets, to communications, healthcare, energy and technology.

It found the three big decisions facing firms were launching new products and services, entering new markets and investing in IT.

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Companies are mainly making these decisions in a bid to maintain or grow their market share, with 40 per cent citing it as a factor. Some 28 per cent said these decisions were being taken in a bid to survive.

Some 41 per cent of companies said such big decisions would require machine algorithms to perform analysis. And while executives are pushing for faster decision-making, there still remains some work to be done on increasing sophistication in the process.

Bottom line

“Data is an extremely under-leveraged asset within most organisations, and a company’s capability to access the right data at the right time can make or break the bottom line,” said

PwC

Ireland data analytics partner Darren O’Neill.

“The survey suggest that leaders are stuck at a crossroads, with 28 per cent of decision-makers polled stating that they are just trying to survive in a state of disruption. Given the anticipated impact of each big decision on shareholder value, the stakes are high.

“The survey clearly calls out that the often unrealised value of data can be used to lower the inherent risk in decision-making to become more agile and increasingly competitive.”

New products

Although 48 per cent of firms said they were highly data-driven when it comes to making decisions on launching new products and services, only 30 per cent said they used predictive analytics. That was a similar figure for making decisions on entering new markets.

Richard Day, data services partner, PwC Ireland, said it was worrying. "While human judgment and gut feel will always be part of the mix, key decisions in today's disruptive world need the forward-looking precision and risk awareness that data and analytics can provide.

“Important decisions will only become more complex, but if you get your data to work for you you will realise the benefits.”