Analytics are not a new idea. The tools have been used in business since the mid-1950s. To be sure, there has been an explosion of interest in the topic, but for the first half-century of activity, the way analytics were pursued in most organizations didn’t change that much. Let’s call the initial era Analytics 1.0.
Last week I spoke for IIA at Predictive Analytics World. Whereas I often speak to executives who aren’t yet persuaded of the virtues of analytics, at this gathering—which also included attendees of the Marketing Optimization Summit and Text Analytics World—that wasn’t the problem. I was preaching to the converted, who already undertake a wide variety [...]
Last week in the IIA we did a webcast for our Retail Analytics Research Council on “next best offers.” I’ve been doing some research on this issue with John Lucker and Leandro DalleMule from Deloitte. I don’t want to give away the punch line of the webcast—or the article we hope to write for Harvard [...]
We tend to assume that executives want the right answers about what’s driving their businesses, and that they will gravitate toward analytics as a means to provide them. However, that isn’t always the case, and probably should never be assumed. Here’s an example. A few weeks ago, at a conference for financial executives interested in [...]
Analyzing Analytical Organization Structures Last week I described five types of analytical organization structures. This week I will describe some research on which ones seem to function best. Last year, my co-author Jeanne Harris and her colleagues performed a survey of quantitative analysts within large organizations. This was the first of its kind, to my [...]
Five Models for Analytical Organizations One issue that organizations are often interested in is how to organize analytics. In this post I’ll describe five different organizational models; surely one of them will fit your organization. First there is the totally centralized model, in which a group of analysts in a central function serve the entire [...]
The Geographical Spread of Analytics In the last several months I’ve been subjecting much of the world to my spoken thoughts on analytics. I’ve been to Europe (twice), Brazil (twice), Mexico, Argentina, Hong Kong, Chile, Canada, and various places in the US. One thing that has struck me as I travel around and talk to [...]
Real Estate and Other Virgin Analytical Territory There are many businesses and industries around the world that are virgin territory for analytics. Yes, many industries have considerable analytical activity underway, and more and more companies are embracing the competitive potential of analytics. But there are far more that haven’t even begun to compete analytically. Residential [...]
One of the most astounding developments in analytics over the past several decades is the rise of analytical professional services. Until a couple of years ago, organizations wanting to build and execute analytical applications were largely on their own. Now they’ve got plenty of help. The availability of consultants and integrators with quantitative skills, business [...]
Leading payers, providers & life sciences organizations from the health care industry gathered recently for the kickoff of IIA’s Health Care and Life Sciences Analytics Research Council. The goal of the project is to uncover the leading analytical techniques being used within health care. There were some fairly esoteric issues discussed, such as the role [...]
