A combination of Big Data Analytics and human decision making i.e. heuristics, is the most beneficial to strategic decision making in a business, according to new research from ESSEC Business School.

Previous research and debate on BDA versus heuristics claimed that solely using BDA often focuses too heavily on short-term goals, and struggles to keep up with fast changes happening in the business. However, solely relying on heuristics often takes much more time.

Professor Yan Li and her colleagues explored the possibility of using a mix of BDA and human decision-making by looking at strategic decisions for new product development in four firms. Then, they collected their data by interviewing participants from different parts of the business from each firm.

The study then was able to prove that despite previous beliefs that BDA can completely replace heuristics, they actually could be much more efficient when used in tandem. Using different BDA models can prove to be very useful in reducing levels of uncertainty during hard times in a business. However, BDA still needs human judgment to be truly effective.

Professor Li said, “Our study adds new insights into the debate between humans and machines by suggesting that BDA has limitations in complex and dynamic environments and requires substantial business acumen to complement it for heuristics adaptation.”

This study was published in the Journal of Association for Information Systems.