Content Business Analytics Part 1. What Business Analytics is: The Basics I.Introduction History of Analytics Types of analytics Domains within analytics Part 2. How Business Analytics can be used to gain advantage in a competitive marketplace Benefits of Business Analytics to an organization for competitive advantage A Case study of competing on analytics Conclusion Business Analytics Part 1. What Business Analytics is: The Basics Introduction Business analytics, in a nutshell, is usage of the type of data that can help one analyze a particular business situation and decide how to improve it. Instruments used for such an assessment include statistics, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as predictive and explanatory modeling. Business analytics is different to Business intelligence which also uses statistical methods. Business analytics uses statistical methods and data to arrive at fresh understanding and illumination of a situation, whereas business intelligence uses statical data to serve as querying, reporting or alerts. Business analytics, therefore, is, one may say, the detective side of business using the statistics to develop and progress the business or direct it in new directions rather than revamping it with existent and supportive data. Business intelligence, in other words, uses the data to inform stakeholders and others what is occurring with the business, what the action is, and what steps are being taken.
Considering this evolution, "in the past, analytics was reserved for back-room deliberations by data geeks generating monthly reports on how things are going. Today, analytics make a difference in how the company does business, day by day, and even minute by minute". (Hackathorn, R., 2013).
Just like in baseball there are large and small businesses. Businesses have to make decisions, decisions that will help the business in the long run. By using analytics business can measure their performance to know where they stand financially and economically. Numbers are very important in a
The team of business analysts come from various backgrounds. Business analytics will be used to gather data. This data will include, demographics,
The data analytic process is one in which a large amount of information is collected using software specifically geared towards collecting, identifying and storing information for use by the company. The information is gleaned from different forums, with social media being the most rich and useful. The information is then quickly sorted and organized for use by the collecting agency (Turban, Volonino, Wood, & Sipior, 2002, p. 6). The use of data analytics really took flight in 2010 when different companies offered software that enabled a company to implement their own data analytics. This led to better marketing campaigns, improved customer relations and it gave companies using the software a bigger advantage over their competitors (Savitz, 2012).
In order to be an effective analytical competitor, Davenport and Harris (2007) assert that firms must meet certain prerequisites. Those prerequisites are at least a moderate amount of quality data about the type of business that analytics will support, hardware and software, the commitment of managers to develop analytics, and executive sponsorship (Davenport and Harris, 2007, p.16). Analytics is about extrapolating new information and
How to Compete on Analytics Thomas Davenport describes the prerequisites and the five stages of analytic competitiveness By Alison Bolen Thomas Davenport's article "Competing on Analytics" was the best‐selling Harvard Business Review reprint in 2006. To write it, Davenport,The President's Distinguished Professor in Management and Information Technology at Babson College, studied the characteristics of more than 50 leading organizations that have made a commitment to quantitative, fact‐based analysis. Why is the January 2006 Harvard Business Review article so popular? We recently asked the author and educator that question and discussed further insights from his research that will be detailed in his new book, Competing
The analytics software is the useful tool and great supporter for organization to reduce workload, increase the productivity and create competitive advantages. The analytics software helps organization knows exactly what customers want and their purchasing power, which will assist the company makes best decisions whether big or small every day. What is more, the analytics software works like an effective predictor, which will help organization look forward to the future scenario and make the best plan. Also the software is the key business enabler
The concept of Business analytics is a component of business intelligence, it has evolved in recent years and now in the for front center of business. With the growth of technology and the continuing improvement
Business analytics would offer efficiency to the firm whereby it would formulate decisions to help achieve its specified goals. Analytics would help TecWiz to gather data at a faster rate for presentation in a visually appealing way. Therefore, analytics would encourage a
Businesses today have access to significantly more data than any other time in history; however, most businesses are not capturing or using the data effectively. A report by the Aberdeen Group, “The Executive’s Guide to Effective Analytics,” indicates that “44 percent of executives are dissatisfied with the analytic capabilities available to them today, and that they often make critical decisions based on inaccurate or inadequate data” (Forbes, 2014). Luckily, CEO’s are beginning to recognize the need for analytics and more and more businesses are making a shift towards a data-driven business culture.
In the New Science of Winning book, (Davenport & Harris, 2007, p.7) analytics is defined as “the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions.” [1]. To be successful in today’s competition, my current employer, DLL Financial Solutions Partner (DLL), is competing on analytics and fully aligned its core strategies to be supported by extensive statistical and computer based decisions. DLL is a global financial services company with operation in 36 countries, and its main focus is in the commercial equipment finance sector. In the following paragraph, I will explain DLL’s position in the industry and its ability to successfully compete on analytics with regards to its core business functions.
The analytics team could then start to analyze the data using data mining and business intelligence techniques. All three types of business analytics: descriptive, predictive, prescriptive analytics techniques should be utilized. The goal of the analysis would be to look at indicators and correlations that lead to incidents occurring and try to determine ways to help prevent these occurrences in the future. Identify proactive ways to change behaviors and actions will be important.
Business analytics on the other hand, as defined on Wikipedia (2012, Aug 06) "refers to the skills, technologies, applications and practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning." It goes on to state that, "Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business performance based on data and statistical methods." This is in contrast to business intelligence and stated above. Business intelligence answers questions such as what happened, , how often, how many, where the problem is, and what needs to happen next. Business analytics answers questions like why is this happening, what if these trends continue, what might
An increasing amount of businesses are exploring this new concept of analytics. In today’s tech-savvy era, the use of analytics can be seen as a necessity rather than a competitive advantage. More companies are realizing the benefits that come with the use of analytics within the business environment. Like anything else, there are both pros and cons that come with this approach. However, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Business analytics are the future of the business world. This paper will describe a general overview of business analytics and its application to the real world.
“Competing on Analytics” defines an analytical competitor “as an organization that uses analytics extensively and systematically to outthink and out execute the competition.”(1) Business analytics is a new way for companies to separate themselves from their competitors. I recently completed an internship at the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and will work there full-time upon completion of this program. PwC uses analytics to help solve complex business issues and to identify opportunities across different industries. PwC is the largest professional service company in the world and is part of the Big Four accounting firms. PwC operates in over 157 countries with more than 750 offices throughout the world.(2) PwC is structured into three service lines, which are Assurance, Advisory and Tax. The assurance practice audits almost 30% of the global fortune 500 companies.(2) The advisory practice is mainly consulting activities that cover strategy, cyber security and privacy, human resources, deals and forensics. (2) These three practices generated $35.4 billion in revenue in 2015. (2)