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Objective and main results

This study identifies big data analytics capabilities and explores the potential benefits they may bring to healthcare organizations. The results provide support in formulating more effective data-driven analytics strategies.

Main findings:

• Five generic categories of big data analytics capabilities were identified:
  • Analytical capability for patterns of care
  • Unstructured data analytical capability
  • Decision support capability,
  • Predictive capability
  • Traceability
• Identified benefits include (in rank order):
  • IT infrastructure benefits
  • Operational benefits
  • Organizational benefits
  • Managerial benefits
  • Strategic benefits

See also review of article: Exploring the path to big data analytics in healthcare.  

Summary of practical implications

The authors recommend five strategies for healthcare organizations that consider adopting big data analytics technologies:

1. Implementing big data governance: Organizations should

• formulate the missions of data governance, with clearly focused goals, execution procedures, governance metrics, and performance measures.
• review the data they gather in business units and define its value
• emphasize integration of information across systems and data sources into big data analytics frameworks

2. Developing an information sharing culture: Organizations should

• develop policies that encourage and reward data collection and delivery

3. Training key personnel to use big data analytics: Organizations should

• provide analytical training in areas such as basic statistics, data mining and business intelligence.
• recruit personnel with relevant knowledge and skills

4. Incorporating cloud computing into the organization’s big data analytics

5. Generating new business ideas from big data analytics

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Tags

Organizational capabilities IT capabilities