A new Category: Strategic Decision Intelligence
We've worked with rule-based decision engines in the past: they're highly effective for optimizing routine decision
processes operating on large data sets. Before machine learning was a thing, we spent months figuring out the best
rules, implementing them, then running swaths of sample data to see if the rules worked as designed.
But once operational, the benefits for the business were undeniable: faster, safer, cheaper – and available 24/7.
AI didn’t fundamentally change the paradigm: most decision engines still run on thresholds and rules,
with ML providing signals. Many systems jumped onto the hype train, and bolted on explanation layers to
make ML outputs more accessible, without changing the underlying rule-based paradigm.
Yet, that’s not the league of Strategic Decision Intelligence (SDI):
Strategy doesn’t follow a playbook written by yesterday’s data.
In fact, strategy and data live in different timelines: Data is an artifact from the past.
Strategy shapes the future.
Strategic decisions unfold in real-time, and they must hold under uncertainty.
That’s the stage for VXS:
Let’s examine why Decision Intelligence won't evolve into Strategic Decision Intelligence –
and why SDI is unlike anything you have ever seen.
DI can be made invisible. SDI can't.
Decision Intelligence thrives on repetition: It takes care of routine patterns – orders, transactions, approvals, recurring incidents. Once implemented, it becomes invisible: Out of focus, out of mind. And that's its value: repetitive decisions get made rapidly, at scale, and at minimal cost.
The more advanced your decision intelligence solutions become, the sharper the boundary becomes: What remains is a different category of decisions: They are complex, one-time decisions with unclear outcome. Strategic calls.
That's the arena of Strategic Decision Intelligence (SDI). It relies on things that are invisible – and yet must be actively considered. For these decisions, you have no data, because they're about the future.
They're the ones that set direction, not just database entries. They carry uncertainty, conflict, and the weight of consequence. They can't be reduced to a score or delegated to a process: They must be surfaced, examined, and owned. They're what you need to think about: The game changers.
While Blockbuster optimized the present, Netflix created the future. Optimization saves costs. Future-shaping saves businesses.
SDI is required at every level
You may think, "But these are just a few decisions, and they're made by our strategy team?"
The big hitters - like entering a new market, building up a new vertical, or selling off a portfolio: certainly demand SDI.
But then there are smaller decisions that still affect the future significantly, which can't be automated by a rule engine:
- Should we continue on the project, or axe it?
- Can we reallocate resources from project A to project B without risking the timeline?
- Do we need to hire more people, or can we improve our ways of working?
- Will that new tool reduce - or add - workload?
- Should I tell my manager that the team is burning out?
Each of these decisions carries consequence. Each requires clarity, alignment, and foresight. That's where SDI becomes a universal capability – not just for executives, but for everyone whose job is to lead, manage, or decide. And when they get delegated - they usually get delegated upward - and more senior levels drown in decision fatigue!
And it's not a problem of not having enough data: most people lack either the background, methods, and time, to do it systematically. They are stuck in a fog, can't connect the dots, don't see the big picture - the consequences and possibilities are out of sight. They make decisions that sacrifice the future for the present, because it's the best they can do.
As AI technology increasingly automates routine work - the volume and frequency of strategic decisions will increase. How do you prepare your company for that?
Not with a better workflow, and not with better algorithms. No dashboard can answer a strategic questions. DI solutions aren't meant to handle what they don't have data on. SDI, however, must act under such uncertainty - and that's the arena where VXS competes.
SDI Breaks the 4th Wall
Decision Intelligence follows a simple pattern: it takes data, extracts a signal, and applies a rule to that
signal. It works because the rules are already known, and the signal is strong. This is why DI is effective for
fraud detection, churn prediction, or payment approval: history repeats, and rules can be applied reliably.
DI systems create actors on a stage. The scene is set, the script is written, now it needs to be acted out -
again, and again, and again. Flawlessly.
Strategic Decision Intelligence is different. It operates with minimal signal, often
in the complete absence of a rule. The future has no history. There are no patterns to optimize.
You don't know what will work until it happened at least once - and when it does, you don't know what happens next.
SDI therefore requires something far more demanding:
writing the script that creates the rules, not following the rules inside the script.
This is what VXS does. It's the structure of dealing with the unknown: surfacing risks, finding opportunities, framing options, and aligning decisions with context and capability. It doesn't just run the play – it helps leaders, managers, and teams set the stage for the next play.
The Strategic Flywheel as the engine of VXS
At the core of VXS is the Strategic Flywheel – the engine that turns uncertainty into structured clarity. It connects the essential dimensions of strategy: Risks, Goals, Predictions, Options, Alignment, Context, Capability, and Impact.
Each element reinforces the others: Risks exist within a context. Options need to be aligned with goals and capabilities. Impact is just a buzzword when you don't know what it changes. Together, they form a cycle that turns strategy into motion: Vision ✖ Execution = Success.
But check your reality: for how many decisions you make, do you even know all of these factors? And how much time do you have to consider their interactions? And the consequences of these interactions? And the consequences your next decision has on your last?
That's how SDI fundamentally differs from DI. While DI optimizes acting on a clearly defined signal within a fixed playbook, the Strategic Flywheel writes and rewrites the playbook as it spins. It adapts in real time, ensuring that every decision builds momentum instead of draining it.
If your company already uses Decision Intelligence solutions, ask yourself: how much of your calendar is still filled with meetings, caused by friction in the Flywheel’s spokes? Then ask: how many decisions has DI actually removed from your desk?
How SDI changes the game
Let’s make it simple. Drag the sliders below to see where your organization stands today: