The year 2011 saw the release of “Moneyball”, starring Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. The film depicted the Oakland A’s coach Billy Beane and general manager Paul DePodesta’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players. One particular scene in the movie mirrors the challenge that most retail organizations face when trying to create and build a culture of analytics: resistance to change. When the characters based on Beane and DePodesta first present their data-driven method of player selection, there is perceivable tension between the newer, stats-based analytic approach and the more subjective one of the older scouts.

Challenging the way things are done in an organization is never easy. Processes have been built over time, and to change these habits is often difficult and potentially destructive. Retail organizations who invest in analytics technology will be familiar with this internal sentiment: there is often resistance to change (in this case, the implementation of a retail analytics system) because stakeholders often feel overwhelmed or lost in the sea of data. Traditional retail managers are still wary of building strategies around analytics. Why?Please Login or Register to read more.