The Pivotal Role of Big Data in Open Strategizing

In the golden era of information technology, data is often considered the “new oil.” With the progress made in digital technologies, the nature of business strategizing is changing in parallel. Earlier, companies were worried about the organizational assets and their control over them. However, the scenario has completely changed now, as companies have easy access to all their data, new ways to connect with customers, suppliers, and their workforce, and they are gaining better insight into their target market in their effort to improve the overall performance. When this information is coupled with research and development, innovative ideas are created, and subsequent action plans are drafted. Organizations can use these ideas to get their hands on new opportunities and gain an edge in the competitive business world.

In order to build better software ecosystems, several modern-day enterprises have started adopting a new approach—the open strategy. The practice of open strategizing has become feasible with the advent of advanced technologies like big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Open strategy consists of two components—inclusiveness and transparency. Inclusiveness is associated with engaging former relevant stakeholders—such as clientele and dealers—whereas transparency is being transparent at the time of communicating with these stakeholders.

With open strategy, organizations can better recognize and respond to the digital transformation by offering the latest, in-house, and external data sources which when appropriately evaluated using big data analytics can result in new planned prospects. There is a significant amount of data that is being generated, and organizations need to analyze these data sources rapidly. In this context, leveraging big data technologies aids in the collection and storage of the data collected from the stakeholders; meanwhile, big data analytics tools allow firms to get the required insights from that data. These insights can then be shared among the stakeholders to remain aligned, resulting in improved transparency while they contribute to the enterprise decision making to produce enhanced significance for the firm. Thus, open strategizing makes employees and customers powerful, but this won’t be feasible without big data.