Communications of the ACM
Intuition In The Age Of Information
"Some people believe that industry doesn't need business expertise any more, says Professor Li Yan of ESSEC Business School, Asia-Pacific.
Credit: Asian Scientist Magazine
Despite its power and promise, technology alone does not make a successful company, says Professor Li Yan of the Department of Information Systems, Decision Sciences and Statistics at ESSEC Business School, Asia-Pacific. "Of course technology is very important, but from talking to many companies, we know that it's not just technology that makes the difference," says Li.
Data can only get entrepreneurs so far, says Li. In a study that is currently under review, she and her collaborators conducted in-depth interviews with the management of some 15 companies in China and found that gut instinct or intuition remains an important factor in companies' successful application of big data in their business decisions. This kind of cognitive shortcut often involves simple, efficient rules of thumb that can help company leaders make decisions when faced with complex situations.
The importance of good business heuristics becomes clear when considering that different people decide on different courses of action even if they are given exactly the same data, Li says.
"That is why we think heuristics and intuition are still very important even today, when people tend to believe that correlations and associations derived from data will tell the story," she says.
From Asian Scientist Magazine
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