Information Technology : Current State Analytics Technology

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).

Accenture a pioneer in the industry is competing on analytics and positioning itself on the top globally. This company is rising on analytics for its distinctive capabilities, viz., Global Experience, Focus on Results, Validated Leadership Assessment, Extensive Industry and Client Experience, Commitment to Innovation and Proprietary Research and Distinctive Approaches to Learning and Development.

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

Next is the focus on the commitment of the senior management. The President of Energy Corporation of America has been an advocate for increasing the use of analytics enterprise-wide as well as multiple Vice Presidents across the organization. Kyle Mork recently became President of ECA following his father’s retirement and his focus has been much greater on analytics than in previous years. Also, a new IT Manager has been promoted and additional commitment from senior management in the IT department has boosted the drive for analytics. Overall, the senior management has been increasingly committed to advancing the organization through the use of analytics. Of the four pillars of analytics competition, senior management commitment should be considered the strongest pillar. However, one could argue the different levels of commitment. These different levels of commitment

Ultimately, analytics is an exercise in change management. To some degree a vague term, change management has no less than three unique angles, including: adjusting to change, controlling change, and affecting change. A proactive way to deal with managing change is at the center of every one of the three aspects. For an association, change administration means characterizing and actualizing techniques and/or advances to manage changes in the business environment and to benefit from evolving opportunities. In a data innovation (IT) framework environment, change administration alludes to an orderly way to deal with monitoring the subtle elements of the framework.

It’s quite common that every task that we perform, we check whether it is being executed in the expected way. Ultimately, if it’s going in a right path well and good but the actual question arises when it’s the other way. This is the point where analytics come into picture. The need for analytics is very much known to us because it can be one of the most powerful driving factors to tune the performance of an organization’s processes, strategies and uplifting revenue.

Based on an environmental scanning made on emerging technological trends for advanced analytics, the immediate finding was that a new tool, in the open source world, is created each month. Analytics is a very fast pace world. The reason behind this is that, in an open source world, the data science community is very active in providing help resolving issues other data analysts are having. Because of this strong data science community, we are seeing a trend in big IT companies such as IBM that is now providing their platform with multiple open source tools being integrated to it. This system is called hybrid solutions.

Figure 1 outlines this author’s view on analytics versus analysis, with increasing technical specialty as one moves from data science (broad discipline) toward data analytics.

The basis behind any organization is to be successful by outpacing its rivals. The key to achievement in today’s world lies how well one applies analytics to the overall functioning of business and basic leadership. Analytics should be applied across multiple aspects of business only then a firm is said to be competing on analytics. Analytics has shown a significant impact on almost every kind of industry from professional sports to entertainment, financial management, customer service, sales and many more. Businesses today understand that only by analytically using the growing volume and variety of data and converting it into actionable insights that drive faster and better decision-making, resulting in useful outcomes, greater profits, superior flexibility, and ideal operational efficiency, a business can lead the race.

Regarding the Business Analytics we need to understand that it has different levels, based on the business value it has, and also based on the complexity to apply it. In regards to the complexity required to apply, we are moving from the descriptive type of analyzes through the predictive, into the

Data is important to any business, but it is of no value to the manager if all the work only involves collecting and reporting data without the ability to drive business decisions. Web tools like Yahoo web analytics and Google Analytics are good at answering the “what” questions, for example, “what happened on this page today?” or “What was the best marketing channel last year in terms of site revenue?” It cannot be denied that this information is valuable; however, successful business decisions cannot come from these analytics tools alone. They cannot offer the insights that an analytics expert can by digging through the maze of data to find meaningful information. In a word, the Web analytics tool is only useful when it is used by a certified analytics person. However, some companies fall into the trap of data. They are

Most of the time analytics software generates value through aggregation, processing, and visualization of data. But the real magic comes from people, and if a new business is just kick-starting the analytics program and have a tight budget then it can probably get more value out of a good analyst over an

Being successful with analytics is about having the right mindset, the right organizational model, and the right strategy.” (Gartner, 2014)

IBM Cognos Analytics offers businesses a way to comprehend and manage data. While including distinct features that are visually appealing and allow for a simpler approach at organization. It synthesizes information by creating an experience that works parallel online or on mobile devices. IBM Cognos Analytics enables the user to rapidly locate, examine, formulate, and distribute insight. It provides simple intuitive interface, supports smart search works in context, and gives a personalized experience to the user. With this analytic approach, there is no need for deep knowledge in data sources. The experience is easy to endure. Additionally, Cognos Analytics assists in scheduling and alerts, and empowering

The first pillar of analytics is when analytics supports a strategic, distinctive capability (Davenport). Over 20 lines of businesses are housed underneath Aramark’s umbrella and each line is given a tool that specifically caters to their function. For example, the finance department within Aramark relies upon the use of the Oracle database to store important data such as sales and expenses. Out of its three competitors, what sets Aramark apart is its focus on the bottom line. From a high-level point of view, finance can assess where gaps are happening within the organization and help manage the growing expense line.