Here is a roundup of interesting sites, resources and articles from around the web, curated by IIA. This month’s edition includes great articles on Cigna’s analytics transformation, why analytics initiatives fail, AI challenges and 20 “next big thing” technology trends that will shape the world. Follow us on Twitter (@iianalytics) and LinkedIn to receive instant updates on IIA content and curated content as it becomes available.
Featured Article from Analytics Leadership Consortium Newsletter
Each month, IIA’s Analytics Leadership Consortium (ALC) publishes a newsletter featuring reviews of timely and relevant 3rd party articles. Here is one of the articles highlighted in a previous newsletter.
Doubling Down On Analytics And Data At Cigna
IIA’s article summary:
Cigna’s commitment to its data and analytics transformation is clear: the Global Data & Analytics (GD&A) organization was established in 2018 and Gina Papush was named as the first Chief Global Data and Analytics Officer. Under Papush’s leadership, a number of analytics groups supporting multiple business units are becoming more tightly aligned while additional groups that are more horizontal in nature are focused on more specific data and analytics needs such as: Marketing Analytics, Measurement, Reporting and BI, and Enterprise Data.
IIA Recommends:
More and more organizations are beginning to share their digital transformation journey publicly; look for these types of articles to stay informed on what others are doing and if there are learnings that can be brought into your own organization.
Review this article and share with your team - are there organizational models or groupings that make sense for your organization?
If your organization has not officially appointed a CAO, CDO or CDAO, now may be the time to lobby for one to lead your organization through its digital transformation.
Featured Articles
Why Analytics Initiatives Still Fail (CIO)
Four key reasons why analytics initiatives fail - 1.) poor data foundations, 2.) the wrong strategy, 3.) failure to balance freedom and control, and 4.) shortchanging the need for cultural change. (free access with registration)
3 Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Change Healthcare (Forbes)
How AI can lead to faster, less expensive and more accurate healthcare.
Solving the Digital and Analytics Scale-up Challenge in Consumer Goods (McKinsey)
Consumer-goods companies are being forced to enter the digital and analytics race, but very few are scaling impact. This article outlines common failure modes and recommendations for successfully overcoming them.
How the Internet of Things Is Transforming 21st-Century Manufacturing (Forbes)
An overview of how the Internet of Things is transforming manufacturing in inventory tracking, remote workforce management and decision making.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Becoming Data Driven (ThoughtSpot)
Three recommendations for advancing a data driven culture: 1.) Call attention to the problems of gut feel and experience 2.) Motivate the many, course-correct the rest and 3.) Prioritize trust and Transparency.
AI Is All the Rage. So Why Aren’t More Businesses Using It? (Wired)
A big study by the US Census Bureau covering 583,000 companies finds that only about 9 percent of firms employ tools like machine learning or voice recognition.
From Report to Insight: Increasing Analytics Maturity (Toward Data Science)
This article provides a good summary of analytics maturity and capability frameworks.
Data Scientist vs Data Analyst. Here’s the Difference (Toward Data Science)
This article outlines the main differences and similarities between data scientists and data analysts.
Business Basics for Data Scientists (Medium)
5 Questions to ask before creating your next analytics model: 1.) Where is this data coming from? 2.) How is the data being generated? 3.) Is there any transformation going on? 4.) Does the data describe what we are trying to measure? and 5.) Is the data correct?
Facebook’s AI for Detecting Hate Speech is Facing its Biggest Challenge Yet (Fast Company)
While advancements in AI have dramatically improved the Facebook’s ability to identify written hate speech, it is still struggling to identify hateful images, videos, and memes.
What to Do When AI Fails (O’Reilly)
This article provides a good overview of AI incidents types and recommendations for preventing and managing AI issues.
The “Next Big Thing” in Technology: 20 Inventions That Will Change the World (Medium)
An interesting look at 20 technologies with impact from 2022 to 2040 including genetic predictions, AI cloud services and autonomous vehicles.
Why Derechos Are So Devilishly Difficult to Predict (Wired)
The Midwest was recently hit by Derecho. These destructive storms, with winds over 75 mph, are often compared to inland hurricanes. But unlike a hurricane, a derecho can come out of nowhere and are very hard to forecast.
Computer Vision and the Ultimate Pong AI (Toward Data Science)
An interesting overview of using Python and OpenCV to create AI that can play pong.
A.I. Can Make Music, Screenplays, and Poetry. What About a Movie? (OneZero)
This article explores recent development in generative AI and the progress and challenges of computers creating art and on demand, customized entertainment.
COVID19 Resources and Articles
How Is COVID-19 Case Data Collected? (Medium)
This article provides and in-depth overview of how COVID19 data is collected including visualizations that track the journey from test swab to a record in a database
Featured News and Information Sites
Articles on machine learning, data science, Big Data, analytics, and AI.
Articles covering the business and social impact of AI from Wired.
Featured Resources
Interesting data projects and visualizations from FiveThirtyEight. Topics include COVID19, sports predictions, elections and social trends.
Presidential Poll Tracker (FiveThirtyEight)
This site from FiveThirtyEight is tracking the leading national and local presidential polls.
This is a great collection of UX design ideas presented in an interesting format from Krisztina Szerovay @krisztaszerovay. Topics include data literacy, analytics, data analysis and data modeling.
Top 10 Tech Influencers in Big Data and Analytics
This is a good list on big data and analytics influencers including Hilary Mason @hmason, Kirk Borne @KirkDBorne, Ben Lorica @BigData, Lillian Pierson @Strategy_Gal and Craig Brown @DrDataScientist.
Featured Blog Sites
This site from Ben Lorica @bigdata helps you stay ahead of the latest technology trends and tools with in-depth coverage, analysis and insights with a focus on machine learning and AI.
About IIA
IIA is the industry’s leading source of insights and advisory services for companies transitioning to data-driven decision-making and advanced analytics. IIA continuously seeks out insights, information and experts to elevate our client’s and our community’s analytics expertise through two service lines. IIA's Research and Advisory Network (RAN) provides clients with access to the world's largest analytics-focused expert network; a resource designed to accelerate analytics teams' progress against their projects and initiatives. IIA’s Analytics Leadership Consortium is a closed network of analytics executives from diverse industries who meet to share and discuss best practices, as well as discover and develop analytics innovation, all for the purpose of improving the business impact of analytics at their firms.