How to Utilize Data to Make Management Decisions

摘要

Although the definitive source for the first quote is uncertain it has been attributed to several individuals including Carroll D. Wright and Mark Twain. Mark Twain popularized the second quote in the U.S. Anyone who has worked with data knows firsthand how you can come up with a different conclusion depending upon how the data is presented, understanding the first phrase very well. However, numbers and data have a very persuasive power and thus the relevance of the second quote. Managing a feed or grain business takes lots of different skills: people and delegation management skills; customer relations skills; financial management skills; time management skills; and a myriad of others. One area that all managers deal with is utilizing data to makemanagement decisions. It has been said that "what gets measured gets done," and this is perhaps the key factor in why data analytics leads to a higher performance level by those organizations who religiously implement it. In this column, we will examinedata from all angles and look at a number of the "hows and whys" of management using facts and figures.