The pros of effective decision management
Posted by AxelPrice on June 2nd, 2014
Broadly speaking, decision management refers to the business discipline that streamlines all processes involved in the action plan. After a decision is taken, the steps that are initiated to ensure the precision, consistency and agility of decisions and taking into consideration the time constraints, encompasses the decision management systems. There are two aspects in the decision management process, namely the operational factor and the analytical factor. The decision management system links analytics to the operational systems.
Operational decision management generally focuses on the changes that could be implemented in the operations of the business, for enhanced decision making. This could mean automation of recurring decisions that affect the essential business systems. This is generally enabled by way of business rule management and business event processing. On the other hand, the analytical decision management focuses on tools like business intelligence and predictive analytics that are applied to recurring decisions for maximizing outcomes. Generally, these are enabled by optimization. Also, this form of management is closely integrated with operational decision management.
Decision management systems are an intricate system that studies the decisions in place, and tries to update these decisions with changing times and customers. Business and analytic experts are given the task of evaluating the results of an applied decision, and update the models as required. Next, they refine the rules if needed and create different challenges, after studying the impact of the decisions taken. Accordingly, the decisions are then updated. This detailed process, in short, treats a decision like a reusable asset and attempts to automate the decision making process.
In an organization, there are several kinds of decisions that are taken at different managerial levels. The top level management is involved in strategic decision making, like whether the company should enter a particular market or not. The mid level management takes tactical decisions like management of the company and control levels. They have a moderate impact on the company. The lower level of management focuses on daily, operational decisions that generally affect the consumer. Decisions taken at all levels generally maximize customer value and have a large impact on the organization as a whole. Consequently, good decision management techniques go a long way in helping the organization to secure long term customers.
However, it should be noted that practically, individuals cannot make many of the decisions that affect the consumer; but in fact, decision management systems can greatly affect the consumer. This is due to the fact that there are several change components that an organization faces in its life span. From regulations changes, to competitor changes, to consumer behavior changes, an efficient system can track all changes and the decisions that were previously taken, and suggest appropriate decision changes. To sum up, decision management systems help the organization to better understand the customer needs, and can effectively assist in managing new and existing customers. In the end, the main motive of every organization is to gain a larger customer base, and if an effective system can help the company do the same, then it should be considered.
There are several decision management systems in place for effective decision management by the organization. They help a great deal when it comes to making right decisions for the organization.
