Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
One book, placed in its field — what Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris's book gets right, where it goes further than the rest, and what the rest of the field adds.
Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data · bicycle.guide/guides/profile-competing_on_analytics_updated_with_a
Arrow keys or swipe to move · N for notes · F for full screen
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
One book, placed in its field — what Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris's book gets right, where it goes further than the rest, and what the rest of the field adds.
Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data · bicycle.guide/guides/profile-competing_on_analytics_updated_with_a
The problem
Business performance and competitive advantage erodes when it is left to instinct instead of method.
You were taught the moves piecemeal, never the whole model.
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
The model
- 01Senior Management Commitment to Analytics
- 02Enterprise-Level Approach to Analytics
- 03Analytical Talent and Workforce Capability
- 04Data and Technology Architecture
- 05Analytical Maturity Stage
- 06Analytical, Fact-Based Culture
- 07Analytics-Based Distinctive Capability
- 08Fact-Based Decision Making and Embedded Analytics
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
Step 1 of 5 · Senior Management Commitment to Analytics
Analytical competitors almost universally have a numerate CEO or senior sponsor who treats data as the primary basis for strategy.
Misconception
Practitioners believe approving the analytics budget and hiring a chief data officer counts as commitment.
Reality
Commitment is demonstrated in decision behavior—executives who demand evidence, kill their own pet initiatives when data contradicts them, and reward analytical dissent—not in dollars allocated or titles created.
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
Step 2 of 5 · Enterprise-Level Approach to Analytics
One version of the truth is a prerequisite for cross-functional analytical decisions, not a nice-to-have.
Misconception
Leaders assume that letting each department build its own best-in-class analytics maximizes local performance and therefore total performance.
Reality
Local optimization creates incompatible definitions, duplicated cost, and irreconcilable reports; the enterprise value comes from one governed version of the truth that lets analysts and questions cross functional boundaries.
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
Step 3 of 5 · Analytical Talent and Workforce Capability
Analytical capability is a workforce pyramid, not a hiring spree for star quants.
Misconception
Firms think competing on analytics is solved by hiring a cadre of elite quants.
Reality
Analytical amateurs—managers who can pose sharp questions and challenge results—matter as much as the professionals; a firm with brilliant models and innumerate leaders still decides on gut.
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
Step 4 of 5 · Data and Technology Architecture
Data quality and integration, not tool sophistication, determine analytical ceiling.
Misconception
Organizations believe buying advanced analytics platforms and AI tools closes the capability gap.
Reality
Tools are the cheap, commoditized layer; the durable differentiator is the quality, uniqueness, and integration of the data feeding them—which takes years of disciplined management to build.
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
Step 5 of 5 · Analytical Maturity Stage
Maturity moderates results: the same analytical initiative yields more in a mature organization than an immature one.
Misconception
Executives assume a company can leapfrog directly to Stage 5 competition with enough investment and a splashy analytics initiative.
Reality
Stages build cumulatively—data quality, culture, and skills accumulated at earlier stages condition the payoff of advanced moves—so skipping foundations produces initiatives that fail for reasons the organization can't diagnose.
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
A framework to use
The Five Stages of Analytical Competition
This framework is part of the full guide. See the guide →
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
The cheat sheet
- Senior Management Commitment to AnalyticsAnalytical competitors almost universally have a numerate CEO or senior sponsor who treats data as the primary basis for strategy.
- Enterprise-Level Approach to AnalyticsOne version of the truth is a prerequisite for cross-functional analytical decisions, not a nice-to-have.
- Analytical Talent and Workforce CapabilityAnalytical capability is a workforce pyramid, not a hiring spree for star quants.
- Data and Technology ArchitectureData quality and integration, not tool sophistication, determine analytical ceiling.
- Analytical Maturity StageMaturity moderates results: the same analytical initiative yields more in a mature organization than an immature one.
- Analytical, Fact-Based CultureCulture is the mediator that turns capability into behavior—capability without it produces reports no one acts on.
- Analytics-Based Distinctive CapabilityDistinctive capability is where enterprise infrastructure and talent convert into strategic advantage.
- Fact-Based Decision Making and Embedded AnalyticsValue is created at the point of decision, not the point of analysis—design backward from the decision.
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data
Sources
- Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning — Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning · Mike West, Editor · Leading With Data