Avoid Analysis Paralysis In The Retail Supply Chain

Business analytics are all the rage. Pick a retail software application—any retail software application—and I guarantee you it’s got a built-in analytics module, or at least a dashboard, replete with colorful and interactive charts and graphs designed to keep line of business managers crunching numbers and modeling scenarios for hours at a time. These modules and dashboards are downright addictive, to the point that they can do more harm than good by causing analysis paralysis. Analysis paralysis is a pathological disease that results from addiction to so-called “business intelligence” and “analytics” modules. The disease targets business decision makers and reveals itself by the following telltale symptoms:

• Early-stage patients become reclusive and withdrawn, often spending inordinate amounts of time hunkered down with their devices and “playing” with data inputs. When questioned about such activity, they exhibit defensive behavior and often claim to be on the verge of a major, data-driven business breakthrough.
• Acute sufferers become entirely overwhelmed by the if/then scenarios they’ve been so feverishly creating. Eventually, they become unable to make any business decisions at all.