Pathways to Value from Business Analytics

Through what pathways does business analytics (BA) contribute to business value? To answer this question we argued that BA tools and capabilities only produce value if they are used, so we set out to explore different types of BA use. This led to the identification of two types of BA users—analytics professionals and analytics end-users (from executives to the shop floor)—which in turn led to identification of the three “pathways to value from business analytics”, namely provision of advisory services, creation and enhancement of BA tools and the BI-platform, and use of BA tools by end users. As a preliminary empirical assessment of the validity of these three pathways, we conducted eleven one-hour interviews with thirteen senior managers with a wide range of interests in BA. Results from those interviews are consistent with our claim that the three pathways exist and are important sources of business value from BA