# What is Good for Business? By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-05-13 It is perhaps interesting to think of the question “What is good for business?” from an analytic perspective. How might an analyst approach answering such a question? The first step might be to determine what “good” means in this context. This could mean something that improves sales, revenue, profitability, or something more abstract like worker morale or organizational unity. If this question is to be answered analytically it will be important to make this ambiguous concept more delimited. The next step might be to determine what “business” means in this context. This could mean a given organization, all profit-driven entities, or it could mean nearly all organizations within a society. Determining analytically what is “good” for “business” requires a degree of specificity not usually occurring in general conversation. Once these aspects of the original question are refined, an analyst can go about conducting some form of analysis. Again, it isn’t necessarily clear what is needed. The appropriate response might simply be a list of things that contribute to success. Alternatively, one might be looking for a rigorous model that enables not only an understanding of “what” is good for business, but the ability to optimize those things to maximize business performance. The point of this is to highlight that from what seems to be a relatively basic question there is a great deal that needs to be unpacked to address it analytically. If there is an open relationship with management, analysts will be able to ask those in power what they envision and what they need. If there isn’t an open relationship with management, analysts will likely make assumptions and do what makes sense to them. It should be stressed that all the ambiguity detailed here emerged from a relatively basic and intuitive question. How much more when what is being analyzed is complex and abstract? If organizations want to capture the benefits of analytics, they will need to welcome the questions analysts need to ask to scope properly the project. Without this, analytics is constrained by nearly unlimited guesswork. #### Related Items [[Business]] [[Value]] [[Analytics]] [[Questions]] [[Work]]