Analysis of Recent Trends Shaping the Global Business Environment

This report provides an analysis of current trends in the global business environment, focusing on the challenges and opportunities presented by big data and artificial intelligence (AI). The report begins with an introduction and literature review, addressing the issues companies face in becoming data-driven. It explores the challenges associated with big data, including data format complexities, skill gaps, and privacy concerns. The report then examines the role of AI in strategic decision-making, highlighting its impact on organizational processes and the evolving roles of human workers. Furthermore, it discusses how big data enables organizational transformation, improving performance and strategic initiatives, while acknowledging the socio-technical challenges that arise. The report also covers the development of big analytical capabilities, emphasizing the need for tangible resources, new technologies, and managerial skills to achieve a data-driven advantage. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the importance of addressing these trends to ensure business success.

Trends in global business environment

Trends in global business environment
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Literature review..............................................................................................................................2
Challenges faced by the companies in relation to big data & AI.................................................2
Role of AI in strategic decision making process..........................................................................3
How big data enabled the organizational transformation............................................................4
Development of big analytical capabilities..................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6
2

Trends in global business environment
Introduction
In this report, the literature review will be conducted on the article 4 “Companies are failing in
their efforts to become data driven”. With the help of the article 4, there are 4 questions that will
also be answered by conducting literature review. In relation to this article, it has been
investigated that there problem statement relates with the companies who are not able to become
data driven in the market. It has created a barrier for the companies at the time of competing with
the other companies present in the market. The method of data driven is considered by the
company when they want to make the strategic decisions in relation to data analysis and
interpretation.
If data driven approach is considered then it assist the companies to evaluate and organize the
data in terms of goals that serves the customers. But on the other hand it has been said by Randy
and Thomas that “To become data driven is considered as one of the major objective for the
companies over the past decade”. The four questions that are identified by analyzing the article 4
are: Challenges faced by the companies in relation to big data, Role of AI in strategic decision
making process, how big data enabled the organizational transformation and development of big
analytical capability.
Literature review
Challenges faced by the companies in relation to big data & AI
According to Alharthi, Krotov and Bowman (2017), it has been stated that the emerging
technological development of the big data is considered as one of the essential areas of future
technology and also it boost the speed, driven in the areas by the internet of things concepts. It is
examined that due to the development in the technological aspects in relation to big data has
helped the companies to transform into the data driven companies. But now big data is becoming
the game changer as each company requires building the capabilities to leverage the big data in
order to attain competitive advantage. The term big data is can be elaborated as the massive
volume of the digital data that is generated by the activity of the human. By analyzing the
organizational and technological management practices at more than 330 organizations in the
New Zealand it has been examined that there are many companies who are not leveraging the big
data.
3

Trends in global business environment
Barriers in relation to big data
 Different formats of data: it is seen that in the present business world, the data is stored in
various formats and it is structured and also unstructured. The examples of the
unstructured data consist of emails, audio files and also SMS. The major challenge faced
by the companies relates with managing and evaluating the various data formats that is
beyond the capability of the companies.
 Lack of skills: it is also the major challenge that is faced by the companies with big data
or general analytics skills. The employees in the workplace do not possess the analytical
skills that enhance the error of the data entry and also replace the data with the wrong
record.
 Privacy: the rapid growth in the big data technologies has closely related with the
challenges such as privacy and protection of the personal data. In the present era, the
personal and private information of the individuals are more exposed and it is important
for the companies to control so that companies can become data driven (Ma et al., 2015).
So, it can be stated that these are the challenges that are faced in relation to the big data and
it is important to minimize these challenges so that it could be easy to address the human side
of the data if they want to attain the benefits for the business.
Role of AI in strategic decision making process
According to Jarrahi (2018), it can be stated that Artificial intelligence is also related with the
strategic decision making process of the company. AI has penetrated by considering the various
organizational processes that relates with the enhancing fear in the smart machines that will
replace the human in the process of decision making. The problem solving ability of the AL
plays a great role in supporting analytical framework rather than intuitive decision making. The
AL has played an essential role as the companies are faced with the questions related with the
influence of AL on the activities. It can be stated that the leaders such as ELON MUSK focuses
on the magnitude of disruption that takes place due to AL and also it is said that it will soon take
the place of the human jobs. The employees who are working in the largest companies in
American has given high rank to AL and machine learning and it is known as one of the
disruptive forces that can be faced in coming future. So, it can be stated that AL has an important
4

Trends in global business environment
role in the strategic decision making process of the company. In the present era, the companies
are managing their Al initiatives by appointing the Chief data officers.
How big data enabled the organizational transformation
According to Mikalef, van de Wetering and Krogstie (2018), it has been said that big data and
analytics has revolutionized the overall transformation of the working process of the companies.
Big data analytics is important for boosting the performance of the company and also it helps in
maintaining the operational and strategic potential of the companies. The big data analytics tools
enables the companies to focus on the large amount of information and also they focuses on
reconfiguring the strategies that are related with the trends. With the help of big data it would be
easy for the companies to maintain the future strategic initiatives of the company. But on the
other hand it is important for the managers to know about the socio technical challenges that are
created by these technologies. The managers have to face these types of issue which also affects
the organizational activities. So, it can be stated that big data has enabled the overall
organizational transformation and it is important for the companies to focus on the big data so
that it could be easy for the companies to be known as the data driven organizations.
Development of big analytical capabilities
According to Gupta, M. and George (2016), it is important for the organizations to be the largest
analytical companies so that so that it could be easy to attain the competitive advantage. The
companies are failing to be data driven companies because they don’t have a blend of the
financial, physical and human resources that helps in creating the organizational capability. To
achieve success, it is necessary for the companies to focus on the tangible resources such as
physical assets and financial resources as it helps in creating the capabilities. In relation to the
technological factor, it can be seen that focus should be given on new forms of data call for the
novel technologies that can help in managing the challenges (Gandomi and Haider,2015).
The relational database is also one of the best choices that should be considered by the
companies so that it could be easy to store the structured data related with the records of the
employees and also with the records of customers. Managerial skills also have an important role
in managing the operations of the business. In this the business should hire the new employees
who possess the technical skills that should be developed at the time of managing the activities in
the workplace. If technical skills are possessed in the employees then it would be easy to manage
5

Trends in global business environment
and control the operational activities and also it can help the business in achieving success in
relation to the data driven. It can be stated that emphasis should be given on these factors so that
it could be easy for the company to be data driven. If the company is data driven then the scope
to attain profits can be enhanced (Yu, 2016).
Conclusion
It is concluded that the companies who are failing in their efforts to become a customer driven.
The companies are investing the huge amount in the big data to achieve success. It is stated that
that there are various barriers that relates with the big data which is used by the companies. The
companies in the present market, has to face the barriers related to different forms of data, lack
of skills and also privacy. So, it is important to resolve this as it will help in managing the overall
work of the company. On the other hand it has been observed that AL also has an important role
in strategic decision making process of the company. The big data has transformed the business
activities so it can be seen that it is the strength for the business that should be considered so that
failure can be turned into success.
6

Trends in global business environment
References
Alharthi, A., Krotov, V. and Bowman, M., 2017. Addressing barriers to big data. Business
Horizons, 60(3), pp.285-292.
Gandomi, A. and Haider, M., 2015. Beyond the hype: Big data concepts, methods, and
analytics. International journal of information management, 35(2), pp.137-144.
Günther, W.A., Mehrizi, M.H.R., Huysman, M. and Feldberg, F., 2017. Debating big data: A
literature review on realizing value from big data. The Journal of Strategic Information
Systems, 26(3), pp.191-209.
Gupta, M. and George, J.F., 2016. Toward the development of a big data analytics
capability. Information & Management, 53(8), pp.1049-1064.
Jarrahi, M.H., 2018. Artificial intelligence and the future of work: human-AI symbiosis in
organizational decision making. Business Horizons, 61(4), pp.577-586.
Ma, Y., Wu, H., Wang, L., Huang, B., Ranjan, R., Zomaya, A. and Jie, W., 2015. Remote
sensing big data computing: Challenges and opportunities. Future Generation Computer
Systems, 51, pp.47-60.
Mikalef, P., van de Wetering, R. and Krogstie, J., 2018, July. Big Data enabled organizational
transformation: The effect of inertia in adoption and diffusion. In International Conference on
Business Information Systems (pp. 135-147). Springer, Cham.
Yu, S., 2016. Big privacy: Challenges and opportunities of privacy study in the age of big
data. IEEE access, 4, pp.2751-2763.
7