Synopses & Reviews
Any person using a personal computer connected to the Internet can search for just about any information they want to find. Any business can gain valuable market insights by analyzing those searches.
In The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Business Decision a Winner, Larry L. Rosenberger, vice president of research and development at the Fair Isaac Corporation, and John Nash, vice president of strategic planning, draw on over fifty years of experience in helping companies make better decisions by using analytics and information technology to bring operational data into business focus. With perspective on the past, present, and future, they show how analytics have evolved in tandem with every advance in information technologies.
From the boardroom to the front line, executives and managers are using analytical insights to be sure their decisions keep pace with information complexity and the pace of change — especially change in consumer behavior and attitudes, in regulations, in competitive actions and reactions. The Deciding Factorwill show how computer-assisted applied mathematics is a resource for decision makers at all levels, and in all types of jobs, to create a customer-centric, cost-competitive, and creative company.
The Approach
There are many management books for the senior executive reader that focus on big-picture decisions that set the direction and objectives for the entire firm. The Deciding Factor, in contrast, looks at how companies can more effectively manage the quality of the millions of operational decisions made every day that determine whether corporate objectives are achieved.
The Deciding Factorwill demystify math and the information technology behind decision management for the numbers-conscious business reader who is not a mathematics or computer science wizard. The authors have chosen to focus their exploration of analytics on mass-market consumer businesses (financial services, pharmaceuticals, health and auto insurance, consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, and retailing) that manage a high volume of interactions with customers day-to-day and moment-to-moment.
Although there are many interesting business-to-business stories to tell, the authors have chosen to examine the implications of the latest technological developments that help companies grow revenues and profits by being more responsive to consumer needs and behaviors. How does a multinational mass consumer packaged goods company build brand loyalty one person at a time? How does a consumer credit card company process billions of transactions every second and keep fraud under control? How can a big-box retailer increase per customer profitability? These are questions The Deciding Factorwill answer.
Synopsis
By 2010, businesses worldwide will spend a total of $1.5 trillion annually on information technology hardware, software, and services. All corporations face the same challenge and opportunity: how to create value from unprecedented amounts of data available.
The Deciding Factor shows how innovative consumer businesses from around the world are using the wealth of business data available to win and keep customers, innovate, and earn more profit through disciplined daily decision making. Too often, senior executives fail to appreciate how much value is created or lost in every decision.
The Deciding Factordemystifies the systems and mathematical models that turn analysis of customer data into decisions that create business value.
Larry E. Rosenberger (San Rafael, CA) is the former CEO of Fair Isaac and Fair Isaac's first Research Fellow. John Nash (Minneapolis, MN) is Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Fair Isaac. He previously worked for Seisint, Inc. (now a subsidiary of LexisNexis) and Accenture. Fair Isaac, creator of the FICO score, is the leading provider of decision management solutions, combining trusted advice, world-class analytics, and innovative applications to help businesses around the world make smarter decisions.
Synopsis
Praise for The Deciding Factor
"Both companies and governments have made some poor decisions recently, and almost all would benefit from more fact-based and analytical approaches. This book provides clear methods and extensive examples for organizations that want to make better, faster, and more consistent decisions."Thomas H. Davenport, author, Competing on Analytics, and President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management, Babson College
"The secrets of the decision-making processes employed by the most successful corporations of the world are revealed in The Deciding Factor. Both corporate decision makers as well as analysts will gain invaluable insights from this treasure trove of case studies and expert guidelines."
Robert Heller, former president and CEO of VISA U.S.A., and former governor, Federal Reserve Board
"Information, used correctly and creatively, can be a source of tremendous customer value, competitive advantage, and company profitability. The Deciding Factor will help you understand if you have this opportunity, and how you might seize it."
Nigel Morris, co-founder, Capital One Financial Services
"There has never been a more important time in business history to truly understand both the technical strengths and conceptual weaknesses of decision analytics. If you're prepared to be serious, The Deciding Factor offers the insider's insights that matter when managing innovation risk."
Michael Schrage, author, Serious Play, and research associate, MIT Sloan School of Management
Synopsis
The Deciding Factor
In today's high-tech world, all companies are striving to create business value from digital data, but the real value in data comes from how it is used to make decisions. At the end of the day, what drives the results your company achieves is the millions of decisions made every day that are influenced by customer interactions and transactions.
In this groundbreaking book, Larry Rosenberger and John Nash draw on over fifty years of experience in helping companies automate, improve, and connect decisions. Using analytic techniques first pioneered by Fair Isaac Corporation, the authors clearly show how today's forward-thinking executives and managers are using analytic insights to ensure their decisions keep up with information complexity and the pace of changeespecially changes in consumer behavior and attitudes, in regulations, and in competitive actions and reactions. The authors explain how making better decisions through a combination of data, mathematics, and software can lead to a more customer-centric, cost-competitive, and creative organization.??
Highly accessible, The Deciding Factor helps demystify the math and information technology behind decision management for the business manager who may not be a mathematics or computer science wizard. As practical as it is approachable, the book answers such questions as: How does a multinational consumer packaged-goods company build brand loyalty one person at a time? How does a consumer credit-card company process millions of transactions every second and keep fraud under control? How can a big-box retailer increase per-customer profitability?
Rosenberger and Nash offer a much-needed resource for decision makers from the boardroom to the front line, a resource that provides guidance to create and unlock new sources of value from an organization's decisions.
About the Author
Larry Rosenberger is widely recognized as an innovator in decision technology, particularly in consumer lending. During his tenure as CEO of Fair Isaac Corporation, revenues soared eight-fold over a nine-year time frame. He was named Fair Isaac's first analytic research fellow in 2007, following more than 33 years of service to the company. In this capacity, he continues to pursue research projects that advance Fair Isaac's analytic science.
John Nash is Fair Isaac's vice-president of corporate strategy, leading strategy development across the company's product portfolio. Nash has worked with Fortune 500 companies in financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods, and high tech.
Ann Graham is a contributor to and former deputy editor of strategy+business magazine, and has been a writer and editor for The Economist Group; Gartner, Inc.; Booz & Co.; and Knowledge@Wharton.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
1. From Intuition to Algorithms: A Brief History of Using Analytics to Make Better Decisions.
2. How Analytics Makes Customer Relationships More Valuable: The Netflix, Best Buy, Tesco, and Harrah’s Experience.
3. Co-Creation and Decision Management: How Consumers and Companies Share Data to Create Value.
4. The Disciplines of Decision Leaders: The Math, Mind-Set, and Technology for Managing Decisions.
5. The New Knowledge Workers: Defining the Talent Mix for Success with Analytics.
6. Demystifying Decision Management: A Primer on Various Analytic Tools and Techniques.
7. The Future of Decision Management: Using Differentiated Decisions to Gain Competitive Advantage.
Notes.
Appendix A: Fair Isaac’s Decision Management Project Methodology.
Appendix B: Glossary.
Acknowledgments.
The Authors.
Index.