It is important to resist treating analytics as an ad hoc activity but instead be prepared to embed them into business decision processes on a repeatable basis.

From their book, Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning, Davenport and Harris report that their research overwhelmingly shows that those organisations who base their business operations on analytics, enjoy a significant competitive advantage. In this context, analytics are defined as "the extensive use of data, statistics and quantitative analysis … and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions."

"Executives at P&G view analytics as a competitive advantage in optimizing their business." (Glenn Wegryn, Procter & Gamble)

According to the authors, the entire company must embrace analytics. However, this does not mean that every person in the company needs to be trained in data analysis or software use – rather, all key players should be capable of understanding where analytics can be useful and how to act on their findings.

To succeed in this way, the use of analytics must span all areas of the business and not be relegated to the historical "back-room numbers geek". Yet whilst it is not unreasonable to accept that a reinvigorated approach to analytics within a business could result in improved performance, how can we be sure that the competitive advantage resulting from a company-wide adoption of analytics is sustainable? According to Davenport and Harris, sustainable advantage is achievable by ensuring that one’s analytical capabilities meet the following four criteria:

Hard to Duplicate
Processes and culture.
Unique
Use of analytics must be unique to each company’s strategy and market position.
Adaptable to many situations
Ability to take analytical process across different areas within a business ie. from marketing to HR.
Better than the competition
Not good enough to just crunch numbers – analysis must be smart.
Renewable
Must adopt a paradigm of continual improvement and reinvestment in analytics, making their advantage a moving target.

Based on a sizeable survey of over 450 executives in 371 large and medium sized companies in America, Davenport and Harris found a significant link between the use of analytics and business performance. Where high performers were defined as those who outperformed their industry in terms of profit, shareholder return and revenue growth, it was found that high performers were 50% more likely than the rest of the sample to use analytics strategically, and 5 times more likely than the low performers. Further, the study also clearly showed that a consistent difference between the high and low performers existed in their orientation to analytics. Some of these findings are presented in the accompanying table.