In the updated and expanded edition of Competing on Analytics (first published in 2007), Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris focus on an important lesson: “Extracting value from information is not primarily a matter of how much data you have or what technologies you use to analyze it, though these can help. Instead, it’s how aggressively you exploit these resources and how much you use them to create new or better approaches to doing business.”

For example, as Davenport and Harris explain, “Regardless of the approach, for companies to sustain a competitive advantage, analytics must be applied judiciously, executed well, and continually renewed. Companies that have analytical capabilities that are:

o Hard to duplicate: It is one thing to copy another company’s IT applications or its products and their related attributes (such as price, placement, or promotion), quite another to replicate processes and culture.

o Unique: There is no single correct path to follow to become an analytical competitor, and the way every company uses analytics is unique to its strategy and market position.

o Capable of adapting to many situations: An analytical organization can cross internal boundaries and apply analytical capabilities in innovative ways.

o Better than the competition: Even in industries where analytical expertise and consistent data are prevalent, some organizations are just better at exploiting information than others.

o Renewable: Any competitive advantage needs to be a moving target, with continued improvement and reinvestment.

“One caveat: Companies in heavily regulated industries, or in those for which availability of data is limited, will be constrained from exploiting analytics to the fullest.”

Competing on Analytics: The New Science 0f Winning was published by Harvard Business School Press (September 2017).