
Big data and small experiments—what could appear more seemingly incongruous? Yet the truth is: these two trends, one from the world of analytics, the other from the world of innovation and change, can be powerfully combined to drive sustainable success in a highly uncertain world.
Big data is a product of the technology revolution that is now well into its third decade. Thirty years ago, sophisticated analytical techniques promising extraordinary insights were lacking but one thing: the data to inform them. The promise was clear: if you simply start measuring and tracking everything, from minutely segmented sales and resource usage metrics to every conceivable macroeconomic variable of remote interest, we will be able to identify all manner of relationships, correlations and insights, the net result of which will be the capacity to much more effectively and efficiently allocate resources to take advantage of opportunity and drive results.
The message was received, loud and clear. In fact, perhaps too loudly and clearly.
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