This article was originally published on CIO.com.

We’re living through a period of unprecedented change. The future is volatile and uncertain. From now on, every organisation will be making time-sensitive decisions based on incomplete information.

I served six years with the Royal Gurkha Rifles, and like many of my peers I completed two operational tours in Afghanistan. During my time in the forces, I was often faced with fast-changing and complex environments; we needed to make rapid decisions based on the available intelligence – with no room for error.

Introducing the OODA Loop
We did this, in part, by using a decision-making framework called the OODA Loop, developed by military strategist John Boyd. It’s taught in military and business schools around the world as a decision-making process to help deal with rapidly changing situations by converting intelligence into action. It gives you the ability to make decisions and react faster than your competitors.  ‘OODA’ stands for Observe, Orientate, Decide, Act. Here’s what that means in more detail: 

1. Observe – the ability to take in data from various sources and to generate situational awareness.
2. Orientate – the ability to generate insights on specific hypotheses to drive informed decisions.
3. Decide – the ability to make timely decisions.
4. Act – the ability to follow-through on decisions, to learn, to continually evolve and inform the next stage of observation.

• Revisit your data strategy. Ensure a clear vision of how data will be used to drive effective decision-making. The core of your vision needs clear governance and the ethical use of data.
• Promote a culture of empowerment. The democratisation of data puts actionable insights within reach of every decision-maker. Empower your departments, teams and individuals to interrogate and gain insights from data.
• Accelerate your data initiatives. Start small and scale fast – prove value and create a clear path to industrialisation.

Data and analytics: It’s sink or swim
For an organisation to survive in the post-COVID world, they’ll need to embrace data and analytics to drive insights. The facts speak for themselves: the top three business benefits of using data and analytics include improved efficiency and productivity’, ‘faster and more effective decision-making’, and ‘better financial performance’. Following the COVID-19 crisis, we can add ‘survival of your organisation’ to the list of benefits of using data and analytics to their full potential.

In the coming weeks and months, you’ll need to make some big decisions and answer some weighty questions: how will you maximise your teams’ productivity and safety in the workplace? How will consumers’ buying behaviours change? Is your team empowered with the right information at the right time to make the most effective decisions? The list goes on…