Big Data VS Strategic Thinking: the debate is open!

Today, more and more data is integrated into strategic thinking. In a way that some people tend to think that strategic thinking will become obsolete.

Gord Hotchkiss, the founder and senior vice president of Enquiro, now part of Mediative does not agree. He answers to Ray Rivera, Solutions Owner in the HR Line of Business at SAP, who defends the idea that big data will replace strategic thinking.

They disagree essentially about the definition of strategic thinking and the obsolescence of inference.

According to Ray Rivera: "As amounts of data approaching entire populations become available, models become less predictive and more descriptive. As inference becomes obsolete, management methods that rely on it will likely be affected"

Conversely, Gord Hotchkiss think that strategic is much more than just inference. He insists about the importance of synthesis described as "the true gold that strategic thinking yields". "Here, strategy is not about filling the gaps in the information you have, it’s about using that information in new ways to create something remarkable."

Indeed, there is a point over which it becomes impossible to deal with all this information, or it is not meaningful. The integration of data in strategic thinking tends to follow a logarithmic curve. 
It's important to keep in mind that humanity has an important place in strategic thinking. Business is not simply science, but driven by intuition and vision, becomes art.

More information
Image Source