Big Data Debate: Do Analytics Trump Intuition?

Will the next evolution in big data remove human intuition from key business decisions and rely exclusively on data-driven analytics?

Probably not, but organizations will increasingly rely on analytics to make real-time decisions based on a rising tide of big data, predicts Roei Ganzarski, CEO of BoldIQ, a Seattle-based predictive analytics company. This doesn't mean, however, that managers warmly embrace analytics over intuition. In fact, the opposite is often true. C-suite types often scoff at the notion that software can outperform insights acquired from years in the trenches

"We run into that every day," says Ganzarski in a phone interview with InformationWeek. "Our response is, 'It's not that we think you're doing something wrong.'" Rather, he says, analytics provide "an additional tool that enables you to do things the human mind simply can't do. We're not here to replace you. We're here to enhance your ability to make decisions."

Obviously, the human brain still trumps computers at myriad tasks. But software is significantly better at split-second analysis, he says, providing a transportation industry example. "Let's talk about next-day and same-day deliveries. People talk about that as the Holy Grail of distribution and supply chain -- where you make an order and it shows up on your door that very day." This presents the sort of big-data challenge suited for analytics

"Once the order has been put in place, how does [the delivery company] make sure its vehicle-and-driver network is set up in such a way that, within milliseconds, it can tell you which vehicle and driver should do the pickup and delivery so that everything is done on time and in a profitable manner?"

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