Author(s): Hari Saravanabhavan
In the digital era, data is the new fuel, and analytics is the engine leading Organisations to be more competitive. A relatively new phenomenon, the Global Intelligent Enterprise, is increasingly on the agenda of many Organisations. These enterprises are built completely on the fundamentals of data and analytics. The literature demonstrates that the benefits of being analytically competitive are widespread and impactful across many Organisational functions, such as finance, marketing and operations. This is also true for Indian enterprises. The above can only be accomplished, however, if an Organisation has the correct level of capabilities in adopting and executing analytics initiatives. Previous research on Business Analytics (BA) maturity models seems to have been adapted from the traditional Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for software that is mostly qualitative and points directionally towards the factors driving BA capability in a firm. These factors are Leadership, Information Technology, Human Capital and Organisation. More recent and upcoming literature reveals that these models may need to be updated with additional factors, given the increased scope of the previously understood analytics landscape and the changing business environment. There is also very little or almost no literature currently available on the factors driving BA maturity for Indian enterprises. This study aims to address this lack by identifying the variables driving BA maturity in Indian enterprises and build a maturity framework that is referred to herein as the Business Analytics Maturity Framework for Indian Enterprises (BAMFIE). The study empirically indicates that while Leadership, Information Technology, Human Capital and Organisation which are global variables have a strong influence on building analytics maturity, a new variable referred to as ‘Analytics Catalyst’, not only significantly influences analytics maturity but also has the highest impact on business outcomes (value) for Indian enterprises.