Wiley & sas business Series

       Figure P2.1 
 Cultur
e and Capability 
43

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44 
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B I G   D A T A ,   B I G   I N N O V A T I O N
 It ’s best to view these models as a set of guidelines. They describe 
direction and philosophy, not specifi c steps. As much as we ’d like it to 
be, reality isn ’t black or white; it ’s a muddy mix of gray. Organizations 
are highly multidimensional and, more often than not, they ’re at mul-
tiple levels depending on the lens used. 
 For example, when viewed as a whole the dominant culture might 
be focused on insight rather than generating value. By this mea-
sure, the organization would be at the lowest level. Slice it by the IT 
group and it might look like a level-two organization due to a slightly 
higher level of warehousing maturity. Slice again by line of business 
and marketing might be sitting at the highest level due to a particu-
larly visionary chief marketing offi cer and signifi cant investment into 
customer-centric systems and management approaches. Shift across 
to fi nance, however, and it might drop back to level one because of 
hordes of spreadsheet jockeys. 
 Something these models don 
’t comment on is technical profi -
ciency. An organization can be very mature at managing technology 
or developing models while still being totally incapable of innovation 
or value creation. Data warehousing is a case in point—many orga-
nizations have mature, effi cient, and highly scalable warehouses that 
are more than capable of handling “big data.” However, many of those 
same organizations have no idea how to commercialize their data 
assets. As will become clearer in Chapter 7, technical skills are only 
one part of human capital. Equally, if not more important, are behav-
iors and a focus on value creation. 
 Getting better is an important goal. More important is making it 
stick. Achieving sustainable competitive advantage is a continuous 
endeavor and because of this, the goals will constantly shift. There is 
no fi nish line at which the team can pack up and go home. 
 This is good and bad. On one hand, it ’s tempting to give up. With 
no completion target, teams may become discouraged. On the other, it 
also means that there ’s no shortage of additional value that the team 
can generate—organizations are complex systems and their environ-
ment is constantly changing. There is  
always  additional value that 
could be created. 
 Best practice doesn ’t mean perfection. Being perfect is an ideal, 
not reality. As such, the best approach is not to chase a particular level 

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U N D E R S T A N D I N G   C U L T U R E   A N D   C A P A B I L I T Y
 
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within either of these models. Instead, focus on what ’s important: cre-
ating value. Everything else, these models included, is just a way of 
getting there.