Decision Intelligence

Dramatically improve your decisions with data and AI

In Decision Intelligence: Transform Your Team and Organization with AI-Driven Decision-Making, a team of pioneering decision and AI strategists delivers a digestible and hands-on resource for professionals at every part of the decision-making journey. The book discusses the latest technology and approaches that bridge the gap between behavioral science, data science, and technological innovation.

Discover how leaders from various industries and environments are using data and AI to make better future decisions, taking both human as well as business factors into account. This book covers:

• A demystifying behind-the-scenes peek inside how AI models, forecasts, and optimization for business challenges really work, and why they open up entirely new possibilities.
• A business-ready introduction to decision intelligence, exploring why traditional decision-making strategies are outdated and how to transition to decision-intelligence.
• The evolution of Decision Intelligence, coming from analytics and modern techniques like process mining and robotic process automation
• An examination of decision intelligence at the organizational level, including discussions of agile transformation, transparent organizational culture, and why psychological safety is a crucial enabler for new ways of decision-making in modern companies
• An overview of why (and where exactly) AI still needs human expertise and how to incorporate this topic in daily planning and decision making
  
  

Decision Intelligence is essential reading for managers, executives, board members, other business leaders and soon-to-be leaders looking to improve the quality, adaptability, and speed of their decision-making.


Praise for Decision Intelligence

"In Decision Intelligence, Thorsten Heilig and Ilhan Scheer build a compelling case for the world of tomorrow’s version of decision-making.”
―Martin Lindstrom, New York Times best-selling author

"Decision Intelligence will be one of the big topics for this decade and completely change the way organizations manage, plan, and operate. This book provides a comprehensive guide from the basics to the applications."
―Niklas Jansen, Entrepreneur and Tech Investor, Founding Partner Interface Capital and Co-Founder Blinkist

"The book impressively demonstrates the potential and entry points into the world of AI-powered decision making. A very valuable reading for managers and their organizations".
―Michael Kleinemeier, Member of the Merck KG Board of Partners, former Member of the SAP SE Executive Board

“The AI hype perfectly captured, easy to understand, de-mystified and mapped to clear use cases - a must-read for today's managers.”
―Dr. Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, Member of the Management Board for Digitalization and Technology, Deutsche Bahn AG

Figures List xi

Foreword xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction xxi

Chapter 1 Decoding Decision-Making: Good and Bad Decisions 1

How to Measure the Quality of a Decision 6

The History of Decision-Making 10

The Impact of Technology on Business Decision-Making in the 21st Century 14

Regaining the Human Aspects 17

Chapter 2 Why Traditional Decision-Making Is Broken 21

The New (Corporate) Normal: An Increasingly Dynamic and Complex Reality with Uncertainties 23

Why Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Can’t Keep up with the New Reality 31

The Illusion of Human Control: Will We Ever Be Able to Make the Best Possible Choice? 35

Chapter 3 Decision Intelligence: Making Relevant Information Visible and Actionable 39

How to Shift Your Decision-Making Perspective 43

The Ultimate Partnership Between Humans and Machines 47

Chapter 4 The Business Value of Decision Intelligence 55

From Using DI as a Strategy to DecisionOS 57

Step up the Operational Game: Recurring Use-Cases for Companies 61

Chapter 5 Decision Intelligence in Practice: Industry Examples of Applied DI 67

DI in Logistics 69

DI in Retail 78

DI in Pricing and Marketing 83

Chapter 6 The Technology Stack: Applying AI Systems for Decision-Making 91

Data, the Backbone to Leverage Business Value 95

Artificial Intelligence: Understanding the Patterns Behind 102

Optimization Is Key for Better Business Outcomes 116

Chapter 7 Decision Intelligence Organization: The Key to Unlocking the True Potential of Data-Driven Decision-Making 125

Culture Eats Intelligent Decision-Making for Breakfast 129

Ways of Working in DI Organizations 132

The Four Rs of the DI Organization 137

Cultivating a DI Organization: A Symphony of Skills 142

Recognizing Biases in Your Decision-Making Process 147

Chapter 8 Leading a Decision Intelligence Organization 155

Trust and Courage 158

Transparency and Experimentation 162

Psychological Safety: The Secret Ingredient for a Decision Intelligence Organization 167

Embracing Failure and Forging Forward 175

Epilogue 179

References 183

Index 195

THORSTEN HEILIG is the Founder and CEO of Paretos, a pioneering decision intelligence platform used by SMEs, Fortune 500 and Dax40 companies. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer of Moovel and is also a management consultant and speaker who keynotes about AI, Innovation, Agile Culture and Digital Transformation.

ILHAN SCHEER is the Asset Engineering Europe Lead at Accenture. He’s an international leader on digital transformation and psychological safety in organizations. He was the Founder of fable+, a data-driven consulting boutique acquired by Accenture.

Making great decisions reliably, regularly, and quickly remains a cornerstone of effective, contemporary leadership. And, while many tools have been created to help augment the ability of modern managers to make those kinds of choices, there are few resources that demonstrate exactly how to implement the latest tech and science into everyday decision-making.

In Decision Intelligence: Transform Your Team and Organization with AI-Driven Decision-Making, a team of decision and AI leaders delivers an easy-to-follow and insightful discussion for professionals located at every stage of the decision-making journey. In the book, the authors explore the latest tech and approaches that bridge the gap between behavioral science, data science, and technology innovation.

You’ll find out how leaders from a variety of industries and environments use data and artificial intelligence to make better decisions as they take human and business factors into account. You’ll also discover a business-ready introduction to AI models and decision intelligence, uncovering why traditional decision-making strategies are outdated and how to transition to the new approach.

Decision Intelligence examines the evolution of the field, including analytics-driven processes and modern techniques like process mining and robotic process automation, as well as the use of decision intelligence at the organizational level. It discusses agile transformation, transparent organizational culture, and why psychological safety is an essential enabler for new ways of decision-making in modern firms. Crucially, the book also considers where and why artificial intelligence must still be augmented by human expertise and how to incorporate the personal element into daily planning and decision-making.

A timely exploration of making the best possible decisions for your organization and its members, Decision Intelligence will quickly become an invaluable resource for managers, board members, executives, and other business leaders seeking to improve the quality, adaptability, and efficiency of their decisions.

Praise for Decision Intelligence

“In Decision Intelligence, Thorsten Heilig and Ilhan Scheer build a compelling case for the world of tomorrow’s version of decision-making.”
—Martin Lindstrom, New York Times bestselling author

“Decision Intelligence will be one of the big topics for this decade and completely change the way organizations manage, plan, and operate. This book provides a comprehensive guide from the basics to the applications.”
—Niklas Jansen, Entrepreneur and Tech Investor, Founding Partner of Interface Capital, and Co-Founder of Blinkist

“The book impressively demonstrates the potential and entry points into the world of AI-powered decision-making. A very valuable reading for managers and their organizations.”
—Michael Kleinemeier, Member of the Merck KG Board of Partners, former Member of the SAP SE Executive Board

“The AI hype perfectly captured, easy-to-understand, demystified, and mapped to clear use cases—a must-read for today’s managers.”
—Dr. Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, Member of the Management Board for Digitalization and Technology, Deutsche Bahn AG

“Artificial Intelligence can help leaders make better decisions and is thus crucial to maintain competitive edge. The authors (Thorsten & Ilhan) tangibly describe the fundamentals of Decision Intelligence and how to practically apply it to your business as well as how to healthily balance the human-machine interactions. An indispensable read!”
—Florian Reuter, former CEO of Volocopter, World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer

“Smart decisions are equally crucial in poker and in organizations! The concepts discussed in this book are the exciting approach to bring together human intuition and state-of-the-art AI and Machine Learning to make better decisions within companies and teams.”
—Fedor Holz, Entrepreneur and 2x Poker World Champion