Decision Latency
Decision Latency (n.) The time between detecting a problem and having authority to act on it.
Explanation
AI detects in milliseconds. Humans approve in days. The gap between detection speed and decision speed is where losses accumulate.
Operational Example
An anomaly detection system flags suspicious activity at 2am. The on-call analyst sees it but cannot block the account without manager approval. The manager responds at 9am. Seven hours of exposure.
Why It Matters
Every minute of decision latency is a minute of uncontrolled risk. In fraud, that is money. In security, that is data.
What Most Teams Get Wrong
They optimize model accuracy while ignoring the approval chain that follows the alert.
What Strong Teams Do Differently
Measure time-to-action, not just time-to-detection. Pre-authorize responses for known patterns.