90% of Indian business leaders have experienced decision anxiety, which includes regretting, feeling bad about, or second-guessing a decision they made in the previous year.
According to a recent study titled The Decision Dilemma by Oracle and New York Times bestselling author Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, people feel overburdened and underqualified to use data to make decisions, which is harming their quality of life and corporate performance. People are having trouble making decisions in both their personal and professional life at a time when they are being required to make more decisions than ever before, according to a study of more than 14,000 employees and company leaders across 17 nations. More data is not beneficial as the number of decisions we make increases.
The abundance of information is overwhelming people, which undermines trust, makes decisions more difficult, and has a bad effect on their quality of life. India-specific findings are as follow:
- According to 91% of respondents, the amount of decisions they must make each day has multiplied tenfold over the past three years, and 90% of them report being deluged with more data than ever before while they attempt to make these judgements.
- 92 percent of respondents claim that the amount of data is making decisions in their personal and professional lives considerably more difficult, and 69 percent acknowledge that they frequently find themselves in a situation where they are unsure of what to do.
- 26% are unsure of which sources or facts to believe, and 80% have given up trying to make a choice because the information was too overwhelming.
- 88 percent of respondents claim that their incapacity to make choices is negatively affecting their quality of life. Increases in worry (38%) missed chances (40%) and wasteful spending (42%) are being brought on by it.
- Because of this, 98 percent of people have altered their decision-making processes over the past three years. 37 percent now just rely on their gut feelings, while 51 percent only listen to sources they trust.
Organisational inertia is being caused by decision distress. Indian business executives want data to assist them and understand how important it is to the success of their companies, but they don’t think they have the resources to be successful, which is affecting their self-assurance and capacity to make quick judgements.
- Ninety percent of business leaders report having experienced decision discomfort, which includes regretting, feeling bad about, or doubting a choice they made in the previous year. Ninety percent of business leaders also say that having the proper kind of decision intelligence may make or break an organization’s performance.
- 99 percent want data to assist them. In a perfect world, they would like data to assist them in: making better judgements (by 60%), lowering risks (46%), making decisions more quickly (54%), increasing their financial success (by 45%), and making plans for the unexpected (29%).
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In fact, 82 percent of respondents say they have been unable to make any decisions because of the sheer volume of data and their lack of confidence in it, and 94 percent think that the expansion of data sources has hindered the development of their organisations.
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To gather all the data from the various sources, more resources were needed (52 percent), strategic decision-making was delayed as a result (52 percent), and there were more potential for error (34 percent).
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Business executives do not think that the present data and analytics strategy is resolving these issues. 88 percent of respondents claim that the dashboards and charts they receive do not always directly relate to the decisions they must make, and 92 percent think that the majority of the data is really only useful for IT specialists.
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Business executives are aware that this must change. The majority of them (99%) think that having access to the correct information and insights will enable them to make better decisions in the areas of finance, supply chain, human resources, and customer experience.
People require data that is pertinent to their decisions or they will stop using it. People have reached their breaking point as a result of collecting and interpreting data at a time when the stakes are extremely high for corporate executives. Study results for India show:
- 86 percent of people claim that the stress of having to gather and understand so much data is too much for them to bear.
- The corporate world is one place where this is most clear. Businesses frequently place the opinion of the highest-paid employee ahead of data, according to 90% of business leaders, 90% of employees, and 11% of respondents who believe that most business choices are not rationally sound.
- Because of how bad the situation is, 85% of people – including 87% of business leaders – would prefer for all of these problems to simply disappear and for a robot to make all of their decisions.
- People realise that without data, their judgements would be less accurate (36%), less effective (38%), and more error-prone (40%), notwithstanding their difficulties with data in their personal and professional lives.
- Additionally, people believe that a company that uses technology to make data-driven decisions is more reliable (97%) will be more successful (97%) and is one they are more inclined to collaborate with (94%), invest (95%), and work for (96%).
“People are drowning in data,” said Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, data scientist and author of Everybody Lies and Don’t Trust Your Gut. “This study highlights how the overwhelming amount of inputs a person gets in their average day — internet searches, news alerts, unsolicited comments from friends — frequently add up to more information than the brain is configured to handle. People are tempted to throw out the confusing, and sometimes conflicting, data and just do what feels right. But this can be a big mistake. It has been proven over and over again that our instincts can lead us astray and the best decision-making is done with a proper understanding of the relevant data. Finding a way to get a handle on the stream of data at their fingertips, to help businesses distinguish between the signal and the noise, is a crucial first step.”
“All our critical decision making needs to be backed by data driven insights. With Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite, we are able to combine data analytics with process optimization to get a complete visualisation of our operations along with AI algorithms from a single source of data. We are already realising numerous benefits including streamlined inventory planning, faster and more accurate accounting book closing, and report generation for our stakeholders. Overall, we have been able to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs”, said Sai Satheesh Sadgopan, chief technology officer, myTVS.
