Wolf&Grayson EditorialDigital transformation has become a constant buzzword, but few executives can articulate what meaningful decision intelligence actually looks like in practice. Neil Bhandar, Vice President of Enterprise Data, Analytics and Innovation at Generac Power Systems, brings uncommon clarity to this conversation. With experience spanning industries such as semiconductors, management consulting, consumer packaged goods, financial services, and industrial manufacturing, Neil has developed practical frameworks that help companies move beyond superficial analytics toward genuine decision intelligence.
Building a Ladder of Decision-Making
Neil approaches business intelligence as a progressive ladder rather than a single capability. “The ladder of decision making starts with some foundational theme data that then leads into analytics and reporting, using the See-Think-Act, framework” he explains. “The next rung of that ladder is the; predictive analytics, where you’ve got models that inform decisions, inform humans to take action.”
From there, organizations can advance to optimization, using models that don’t just make predictions but recommend the best possible options based on specific criteria. The highest level, features autonomous systems making decisions independently. According to Neil, most businesses remain at the beginning stages of this journey. “There’s a huge amount of confusion when I talk to people between what is considered analytics and what is considered decision intelligence,” he notes. “Most people don’t see the difference between the two. To them, having a dashboard is analytics, which it is in a rudimentary form.”
Moving Beyond Trends to Tangible Results
One of the biggest pitfalls Neil sees is, companies pursuing digital initiatives simply because they’re trendy or because executives fear FOBLB, fear of being left behind. “I just came back from a large conference where I made a comment, it’s raining AI. You couldn’t talk to anyone without the word AI being dropped within the first five minutes,” he shares. This pattern reminds him of previous technology waves. “I remember attending that same conference over 10 years ago and the whole discussion and energy was around big data. And we know where big data investments have landed, right? None of them delivered the kind of value that was perceived.”
The solution, according to Neil, is tying digital initiatives to concrete use cases. “This is not a PowerPoint exercise. This needs to tie back to something very real, something that probably about 20, 30, 40% of the company uses, interacts and benefits from. This cannot be an ivory tower exercise for the board.”
Emphasizing the Human Role in Decisions
While technology provides powerful capabilities, Neil emphasizes that effective decision-making remains fundamentally human. “All decisions are basically a combination of habits and behaviors,” he explains. “If you’re going to get people to use these models to make decisions, they have to have some ability and ownership into the decision outcomes.” This requires looking beyond immediate impacts. “They need to understand the implications of it. Not the first order impact, but what happens after that. Think of counterfactuals in terms of what if you didn’t make this decision or if you made a different decision.” This comprehensive approach isn’t purely analytical—it’s about leadership.
Adapting Digital Strategy to Context
Neil cautions against one-size-fits-all approaches to digital transformation. “The concept of what is a digital strategy is important,” he notes. “A digital strategy is nothing but doing what you were doing, but using right kinds of tools, technologies to make it more efficient, more traceable, having less human touch, minimizing error and risks.” This means strategies must be tailored to specific industry contexts. “What might work for a Google, Netflix and Amazon from a digital transformation perspective may never work for a luggage manufacturer or a truck manufacturer,” Neil points out.
The key is finding the right approach for each specific situation—what Neil calls “fitness for purpose.” It’s not just having the right tool for the right job, but understanding the right context in which you are operating. Through this practical, contextual approach to decision intelligence, Neil is helping companies move beyond buzzwords to meaningful business transformation.
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