DO YOU THINK? OR DO YOU KNOW? Improving State Government Operations Through Business Analytics

Business analytics provides an evidence-based approach for decision making. With the current emphasis on transparency and visibility into the operations of government, government leaders need to anticipate more questions and evaluation related to not only what decisions are being made, but also what rationale was applied in making those decisions. As stated in this issue brief, intuition alone is not adequate for evaluating alternatives and making decisions. Effective implementation of a business analytics capability will promote an enterprise-wide culture of fact-based decision making. State government is encouraged to seriously look at business analytics as a means for fully understanding current circumstances and make predictions about the future. The predictive nature is particularly important as we continue to face ongoing fiscal challenges and increasing demand for state government services.

 

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