THE POWER OF ANALYTICS: DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING By Margaret Anthony From day one, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made it no secret that every decision he and his team make regarding management of the coronavirus remains “guided by expertise, data and science.” His daily briefings were punctuated with charts and graphs, which illustrated the reams of data that health officials tracked and collected, underscoring the rationale for the latest pronouncement — from behavior to phases of reopening. Like Cuomo, business and government leaders around the world are using data to drive decisions, and their reliance on analytics is only growing in scope and importance. Joining in this data-driven journey are Goizueta graduates from across marketing, manufacturing, healthcare and government. Each one synthesizes data to form conclusions, direct operations and lead change in their organizations — all based on analytics.
Data meets the day-to-day
“Data analytics permeates every aspect of the business,” said Erik Sjogren 99MBA, vice president and general manager of Georgia-Pacific’s Disposable Tableware Business. “I have to know how to read the data and act on it.”
Sjogren works with both product manufacturing and retailers for G-P’s Dixie brand consumer products. “At the manufacturing level, data informs the lines’ efficiency, which gives a true understanding of how much products cost to produce. For marketing, data analytics
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helps us understand if products are priced right and if the shelf space at the retail level is adequate.” The benefits of predictive analytics, he says, can signal a negative event in the manufacturing process. For example, if there is an equipment failure, past data combined with the current workflow will alert the manufacturing team that a machine is about to go down. On the retail side, the company’s big data capabilities allow for minimal inefficiencies in the supply chain of products by indicating which products should be in which stores.
