Decision making technologies shaping the future

Alteryx Inc. has released its independent study titled The Decision-Making Technologies Shaping the Future of the Enterprise, revealing the current state of global enterprise decision-making. While trust and accuracy were cited as playing an exceptionally important role in decision-making, the new study revealed multiple practices that slow down the accurate and timely decision intelligence needed to thrive.

Challenging economic times are forcing business leaders to provide the right answers at unimaginable speeds, but the current pace of decision-making is holding companies back. This makes it difficult for companies to make critical decisions with the required speed and confidence.

• 61% of respondents thought decisions were generally quick and efficient, but reported times indicated otherwise
  
• Operational decisions took an average of two days, tactical decisions seven days and strategic decisions 20 days
  
• 55% of organizations responded that the availability of data leads to faster decisions, but only 24% said they use advanced decision intelligence technology and analytical tools to currently automating processes and assist in making these decisions
  

New research: Decoupling decisions blocks accurate and timely insights across the enterprise

Sharing data has clear benefits for making intelligent decisions at scale, but with leaders hesitant to make it available, time to insight and the ability to react and adapt have stalled.

• 80% of business leaders agreed that access to data improves their own decision-making, with the majority saying they are advanced technologies such as analyticsbusiness intelligence and artificial intelligence help make faster decisions
  
• Still, 65% didn’t think employees who make decisions for the organization should have access to data for decision-making, and 21% thought data should only be in the hands of senior leadership
  
• Findings showed that a culture of data gatekeeping negatively impacted respondents’ ability to collect and analyze data and communicate insights across the business
  

Optimized decision-making requires real-time insights: the future of decision making is automationbut machines will not make decisions alone.

• 97% of respondents said they envision a future where all decisions in their organization are automated. On average, organizations thought that decision-making will be fully automated in 10 years, while many thought it would take longer
  
• Only 4% of respondents said they think the future of decision-making will be machine-driven, meaning machines will analyze, produce insights and make decisions without any human input
  
• 66% of those surveyed believed that the future of decision-making will be a combination of humans and machines
  

“It is essential for decision makers to deliver insights quickly and with confidence. Isolated areas of access to data and analytics are currently hindering many organizations’ ability to gain clarity in a landscape of uncertainty. At Alteryx, we have long believed that data and analytics optimized decision making yields better, faster, more efficient and more confident information all unlocking the potential to capitalize on insights needed to design better experiences,” said Alan Jacobson, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Alteryx.

Given the benefits, it is clear that data cultures need to change. A robust internal governance policy would help organizations feel more comfortable opening the gates, give their employees greater access to data, and reap the resulting benefits of advanced analytics across the enterprise.