By: Connie Lindstrom, Senior Biofuels Analyst, Christianson Benchmarking, LLC 
With the ethanol industry in what seems to be a never-ending state of increasing diversification opportunities and regulatory proliferation, decision fatigue is pervasive. The many questions that demand constant answers can lead to stress around making the right choices quickly. Ethanol producers aren’t alone in this feeling. A recent Oracle study of over 14,000 decision makers found that 85% of business leaders report increasing “decision distress.” The study found that this can very commonly cause leaders to turn away from sources of information and just “go on gut instinct,” or conversely, simply make no decision at all and let important projects linger in statis until it’s too late to capitalize on opportunities.
In my work as an industry analyst, I’ve seen both of those scenarios, to the detriment of the bottom line. Unfortunately, sometimes having an analyst come in with even more data and reports to consider can actually make the problem feel worse (that study I mentioned also found that 72% of leaders said the sheer volume of available data makes them trust data less and stops them from making decisions).
Leaders in the ethanol world have more data to consider than ever before. Plant equipment provides hyper-granular process data. Vendors have fantastic new ways to improve processes, and they’ve got lots of data to support their claims. Add in farming practice data, global supply and demand reports, advanced commodity hedging data — the list is endless. It’s all important, but it’s also overwhelming. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are supposed to make synthesizing and using all this data easier, but to someone like me — well, let’s just say I’ve been working long enough to be a bit set in my ways — figuring out another new toolset doesn’t feel immediately helpful. So, what to do?
I have two suggestions that are easy to act on right away. First, start using the AI tools now built into your everyday office software to “outsource” the easy stuff. Remembering to do things as basic as using AI features in Outlook to help pick a meeting time or asking the AI assistant in Excel or Adobe Acrobat to show you the key points in a board packet, lets you save some time and energy for the tough calls.
Second, focus on continuing to build a high-quality data portfolio within your business, so that when an AI tool is available to help you make a particular decision, that AI “engine” has access to lots of dependable “fuel” to power it as it helps you get to your destination — a data-informed and agile decision. Time invested today in storing, scanning, connecting, understanding and cleaning up your data will give you confidence in the insights AI tools will provide tomorrow.