Key Issues of Predictive Analytics Implementation: A Sociotechnical Perspective

Developing an effective business analytics function within a company has become a crucial component to an organization’s competitive advantage today. Predictive analytics enables an organization to make proactive, data-driven decisions. While companies are increasing their investments in data and analytics technologies, little research effort has been devoted to understanding how to best convert analytics assets into positive business performance. This issue can be best studied from the socio-technical perspective to gain a holistic understanding of the key factors relevant to implementing predictive analytics. Based upon information from structured interviews with information technology and analytics executives of 11 organizations across the US, this study identifies the socio-technical components that are key to organizations’ implementation of predictive analytics.