There’s a new book hot off the press: Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results by Thomas Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris (both of Competing On Analytics fame) and Robert Morison. The sequel to Competing On Analytics, CIO Insight magazine has named the original book, one of the all-time “Top 15 Most Groundbreaking Management Books”.

The book focuses on the big picture where better decisions drive outstanding performance, improve competitiveness and help organisations differentiate themselves from the competition. It puts the ‘business’ into ‘business information’.

The book, which is case study rich, is intended to be an practical and implementation-focused guide that describes a five-step model for deploying and succeeding with analytical initiatives.

Five factors are presented as being critical if an organisation is to succeed at ‘doing analytics’. The authors group use the acronym DELTA (the Greek letter that signifies “change” in an equation):

D for accessible, high-quality data

E for an enterprise orientation

L for analytical leadership

T for strategic targets

A for analytical talent

Although not exclusively devoted to the financial crisis by any means,  there are  chapters that feature some commentary on the role of analytics in the financial services industries.