With the growing use of business analytics (BA), organisations have benefited from new ways to extract value from data and drive strategic, evidence-based decision making. However, much less thought about how Business Analytics contributes to business value in organisations has been given. We have conducted an in- depth qualitative study of fourteen semi-structured interviews of positions integral to BA within organisations using five value drivers and inhibiting factors that surround value generation.

As the research on business analytics completes its first decade, there is an opportunity to take a retrospective look at what has been done, and how well this compares to the practice of business analytics. This study had the objective of bridging the current knowledge gap through providing a holistic view of all five value factors and how they affect value generation. In order to answer the research question of “How does Business Analytics contribute to business value in organisations?” Specifically does Business value (BV) result in better informed evidence-based decisions? Through an after-action review (AAR), businesses are able to measure a decision’s impact within an organisation.

The results of this study can be used by the managers of firms creating implementation strategies, as well as by other players in the ecosystem for analysing business analytic solutions. As well as identifying in what ways business analytics contributes to business value through developing a value framework.