Business analytics: getting behind the numbers

Purpose – To identify, discuss and provide a solution for a common problem in the mathematical analyses in business analyses, namely, paralysis by analysis. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first discusses the scale and frequency of the paralysis by analysis problem, before discussing it in more depth before addressing a fundamental problem, which is an important root of the paralysis by analysis problem, the indiscriminate usage of central tendency measures. Finally, it discusses how variance can be turned from being a liability into an asset. The approach is conversational but examples and a case study are provided to substantiate the arguments. Findings – The paper provides some recommendations for avoiding paralysis by analysis. Practical implications – Basically, the paper shows by argument and example why practitioners and some researchers need to better understand the limitations and promises of mathematical analyses and to some extent how to incorporate this understanding into their work. Originality/value – There is nothing really new in this paper, but it discusses a problem that for some reason is often ignored by practitioners and some researchers. The true value of the paper therefore lies in making practitioners, in particular, more aware of the limitations as well as the possibilities in the mathematical analyses performed in business analytics so that they can better understand what they are doing and hence get behind the numbers, as it were.