We make decisions all the time. Some are trivial, like what to eat for lunch, and some really matter, like those that affect business operations, goals, and future activities. For modern companies, business decisions are made with the help of business intelligence (BI) software, like Domo. BI software gathers complex data and displays it in an easily digestible format, using actionable dashboards and comprehensive reporting tools, which help guide our decisions.
You won’t hear us say this isn’t a great way to drive data-driven decisions. However, this is only one way. To get the most out of your data, you must revolutionize this traditional method of decision-making and move towards a new emerging methodology called Decision Intelligence (DI).
What Is Decision Intelligence?
DI is a top trend according to the Gartner Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2022 report. DI is a practice that combines human decision-making and artificial intelligence (AI). Essentially, getting the best of both worlds. It’s important to note that DI supplements the human portion of decision-making, it doesn’t replace it. DI is a specific technique that uses data and AI to get to an answer that is fast, accurate, and consistent. This is different from the traditional way of humans forming a decision based exclusively on data as it has the additional AI analysis.
This new technique isn’t just used by conglomerates. Small to mid-size organizations everywhere will soon be incorporating this type of data modeling into their business if they haven’t already. Gartner expects more than a third of large businesses will use DI over the next two years. So, don’t get left behind by not planning for it now. It is certain that DI will disrupt the market with an innovative way of planning and strategizing.
Example: How Netflix Uses Decision Intelligence
DI uses a business’ customer behaviors and needs to form decisions. Recommendation engines are one form of DI. For example, Netflix’s recommendation watch list is an example of a recommendation system or algorithm and achieves an impressive 80% screen time for viewers. Clearly, it’s working if that much screen time is spent watching what it recommends, and the more screen time, the more engaged its customers are, the better for Netflix. There are huge customer retention savings from utilizing DI in this way, and apparently, Netflix is one step ahead of most of us when it comes to realizing the benefits associated with it.
Business Intelligence vs Artificial Intelligence vs Decision Intelligence
With all these terms floating around that include ‘Intelligence’, it can get confusing. Let’s break it down: BI and AI (or machine learning) are different yet go together like birds of a feather. AI refers to computer intelligence, and BI refers to extracting valuable insights from visualization tools. DI is different in that it automatically analyzes the data and delivers a plan of action (or a recommendation). Essentially, doing the data analysis for you.
Impacts of Decision Intelligence in the Workplace
Speed to Insights
Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, states that 58% of respondents in their survey observed speedier decisions using real-time analytics. DI is a lot faster at making decisions than traditional decision-making methods because it significantly shortens the distance from data to decision by utilizing automation in its process. DI doesn’t require a person to manually analyze the data. Speed to insights drives business agility and that is one of the biggest factors in gaining a competitive advantage, evolving with market demands, improving products and services, and increasing revenue.
Accuracy of Decisions
Many companies spend an incredible amount of time putting together reporting that delays the time between getting the data and using the data. Making decisions based on outdated or old data is the same as making decisions based on inaccurate data. Both yield poor results. DI embeds real-time data throughout the whole process, and it’s quick because of automation. So, instead of wasting time and resources manually scrapping together data, DI’s impressive decision-making speed ensures you’re building decisions on today’s data.
Eliminates Mistakes & Biases
It’s human nature to take mental shortcuts. Scientists coin these mental shortcuts as biases. There are many different types of biases, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll use this term generally. When removing humans from the decision-making process, you’re inherently removing a lot of our biases that naturally come with it. These biases sometimes create mistakes or decision traps that lead to bad outcomes. Decision Intelligence rationally and objectively forms a recommendation without preexisting beliefs or notions that we all carry and that unintentionally bleed into our best judgments and business decisions.
It’s still important to note that AI has inherent biases as well because it’s built by humans and has learned from our own biased behavior. However, there are several ways scientists are addressing this problem and we can anticipate & hope that there will be an improvement in this area in the years to come.
Gartner found that 65% of decisions made today are more complex (involving more stakeholders and choices) than they were two years ago. DI simplifies and speeds up your organization’s decision-making process by organizing mass amounts of data and coming to recommendations that drive informed decisions. If you’re curious about how Decision Intelligence can be incorporated into your business so you can improve your decision-making, reach out to our experts at BT Partners today.
