background preloader

Big Data Analytics Point of View

Facebook Twitter

Is Your Business Analytics Driving Profitability? By Bill Cabiro It should be no surprise that data-driven decision making is more effective than relying on managers’ intuition. Research clearly shows that analytics oriented organizations largely outperform their peers. Tom Davenport: big data is too important to be left to the 'quants' One of the challenges with big data — or with most data analytics efforts over the years — is that it has typically been relegated to analysts and holders of Ph.Ds in mathematics or statistics.

Tom Davenport: big data is too important to be left to the 'quants'

Thus, it's been highly intimidating territory for most business decision-makers. Organizations are striving to compete on analytics, and hiding the processes and management of data analysis in a back room isn't going to cut it anymore. That's the view of Tom Davenport, visiting professor at Harvard University and co-author of the seminal work Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Davenport, and the Q&A is posted at CBS interactive's SmartPlanet site. Davenport, who is also a senior advisor to Deloitte Analytics, spoke about the difficulties of converting to an analytics-driven culture. I also asked Davenport about the role of cloud platforms in promoting greater availability of analytics, and he said cloud isn't quite there yet. Views from the front lines of the data-analytics revolution.

This past October, eight executives from companies that are leaders in data analytics got together to share perspectives on their biggest challenges.

Views from the front lines of the data-analytics revolution

All were the most senior executives with data-analytics responsibility in their companies, which included AIG, American Express, Samsung Mobile, Siemens Healthcare, TD Bank, and Wal-Mart Stores. Their backgrounds varied, with chief information officers, a chief data officer, a chief marketing officer, a chief risk officer, and a chief science officer all represented. We had seeded the discussion by asking each of them in advance about the burning issues they were facing. For these executives, the top five questions were: Are data and analytics overhyped? Here is a synthesis of the discussion. 1. Participants all agreed that the expectations of senior management are a real issue. The focus on applications helps companies to move away from “the helicopter view,” noted one participant, in which “it all looks the same.” Big Data And Analytics - It’s No Longer Okay To Not Know.

On October 8, Seth Godin wrote on his blog, “It’s no longer okay to not know.”

Big Data And Analytics - It’s No Longer Okay To Not Know

Big Data and Analytics are often interchanged incorrectly. The difference is an important distinction to make. [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] These two terms are misunderstood and subsequently misused. Some say “Big Data”, when they mean “Analytics”. In the end, it’s not about the data or how much you have. Confusion Is Easy To Find What’s wrong in this space? Externally, leading vendors such as Oracle, SAP and IBM confuse the market.

Big Data’s Impact in the World. Mo Zhou was snapped up by I.B.M. last summer, as a freshly minted Yale M.B.A., to join the technology company’s fast-growing ranks of data consultants.

Big Data’s Impact in the World

They help businesses make sense of an explosion of data — Web traffic and social network comments, as well as software and sensors that monitor shipments, suppliers and customers — to guide decisions, trim costs and lift sales. “I’ve always had a love of numbers,” says Ms. Zhou, whose job as a data analyst suits her skills. To exploit the data flood, America will need many more like her. A report last year by the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the consulting firm, projected that the United States needs 140,000 to 190,000 more workers with “deep analytical” expertise and 1.5 million more data-literate managers, whether retrained or hired. The impact of data abundance extends well beyond business. Welcome to the Age of Big Data. What is Big Data? Those artificial-intelligence technologies can be applied in many fields. Your business does not need analytics - except for these 2 situations.

Your business does not need analytics - except for these 2 situations Posted by Bala Deshpande on Tue, Jan 14, 2014 @ 05:25 AM "Our business is unique, and we don't think we can use ***" This is a common response we get the first time we talk to a company to explore if they are ready for analytics.

Your business does not need analytics - except for these 2 situations

The "***" is usually some analytics based process. For example, one manufacturing company insisted that the demand for their products is not predictable and therefore they would have no use for forecasting. Here is another example of a totally different company that manages donations for non-profit companies, but has a business need that can be addressed by a similar approach. Once a project is started, it is entered into a financial tracking system, and once in there they record all the bills and invoices associated with the project. Internal facing analytics applications are all those cases which help to make the business more efficient and resilient. Little Data Makes Big Data More Powerful - Mark Bonchek. By Mark Bonchek | 11:00 AM May 3, 2013.

Little Data Makes Big Data More Powerful - Mark Bonchek