What if every minute you waited to make a decision meant the difference between life and death for someone else.

Would you review new information and move forward with new solutions differently? Would you engage experts sooner? Would you declare “we’re moving that mountain, no excuses!”

I bet you would.

I would too.

This idea of trading a human life, or many human lives, for the luxury of extra decision making time hit me like a ton of bricks as I was reading this article over the holiday break. It got me thinking – what if the costs of delaying my decisions were much greater? More real-world and less numbers-on-paper (or not considered at all).

The leaders at Geisinger Health Systems actually had to make this type of decision. They had to decide how to best leverage the massive amount of data pouring into their health care system to save lives. (Full Article)

A Long And Worthy Journey

The decision to use data to save lives was risky, aggressive, visionary – and totally worth it.

“Despite the abundance of data in healthcare, and the clear promise of big-data analytics, the sector has been slow to put it to work. Among the obstacles to adoption are laws aimed at protecting patient information, and a shortage of technical talent; hospitals and clinics compete for big data engineers whose technical skills can be applied across industries.”

These leaders put it all out there – they invested lots of money, worked to string together solutions, stayed the course for twenty years…all with no guarantee of success.

And then they started saving lives and nothing else mattered. Their analytics system discovered life-saving connections and empowered the doctors to take action.

“For example, a trauma patient admitted through the emergency department after a car accident typically undergoes body imaging to look for internal injuries. The medical team must prioritize acute, life-threatening illness, sometimes at the expense of addressing incidental but important findings reported on imaging studies. What the medical team might leave behind, the analytics system can pick up.”

 

Analytics – Your Power-filled Ally

You can use your data to make an impact just as the leaders at Geisinger Health Systems are using their data to save lives.

Analytics can help you gain a deeper understanding of what’s really driving the daily, weekly, and monthly results you’re working to manage.

Digging into your data can reveal a whole different layer of information about your business. (One of our clients recently experienced this. Explore what they learned and the impact it had on their business.)

And unlocking what’s hidden in your data can make all the difference.

 

If Not Now, When?

Data analytics and business intelligence has been on the scene for decades. It’s all the buzz now because us mere mortals are just now figuring out how to best leverage it. This makes it new, and intimidating, and confusing…

It’s easy to put off because, hey, we’ve been fine for all these years – right?

The truth is, you might be right. You might be in an industry that’s so slow to adapt that it will take the industry as a whole another three decades to come around.

But what if you’re not? What if you’re falling behind your competitors every day you don’t take action in this space? Sure, it’s not costing a human life, or many human lives, but it might be costing you customers, top talent, or profits.