Analytics: How to Win with Intelligence

by John Thompson, Shawn Rogers

Overview

Learn how big data and other sources of information can be transformed into valuable knowledge - knowledge that can create incredible competitive advantage to propel a business toward market leadership.

Learn through examples and experience exactly how to pick projects and build analytics teams that deliver results. Know the ethical and privacy issues, and apply the three-part litmus test of context, permission, and accuracy.

Without a doubt, data and analytics are the new source of competitive advantage, but how do executives go from hype to action? That's the objective of this book - to assist executives in making the right investments in the right place and at the right time in order to reap the full benefits of data analytics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634622370
Publisher:	Technics Publications
Publication date:	07/04/2017
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.37(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword by Tom Davenport 1 CHAPTER 1: Competitive Advantage Stemming from Analytics 5 New opportunities 7 A brief history of analytics 9 Data gets big 11 Does size matter? 12 The challenge of data management 13 “Analytics” defined 14 An inflection point: three major trends 16 The rise of “citizen data scientists” 17 The availability of easy-to-use, cheaper technology 17 The abundance of data 18 Challenges ahead 19 Conclusion 20 CHAPTER 2: Understanding Advanced Analytics 23 Advanced analytics: then and now 24 The power of agile methodologies 27 Advanced analytics today 28 The process of advanced analytics 30 The future of advanced analytics 32 Conclusion 34 CHAPTER 3: The Age of the Algorithm Economy 37 Beyond the digital economy 38 It’s not just about the data 40 Creating products using data and insights 41 Reinvention through algorithms 43 Don’t reinvent the wheel – borrow it 45 Algorithms gone wild 48 Conclusion 51 CHAPTER 4: The Modern Data Ecosystem 55 1. Maturing users 57 2. New technologies 61 3. Decreasing cost barriers 62 4. Abundant data 64 Ecosystem challenges 65 Conclusion 68 CHAPTER 5: Analytics Takes a Village: Building and Enabling the Right Team 69 Analytic Centers of Excellence (COEs) 71 The Chief Analytics Officer 72 COE organizational models 74 The COE staff 76 Different data scientist roles 79 Citizen data scientists 81 The COE in action 84 Conclusion 86 CHAPTER 6: Getting Started 87 Build or buy? 88 Crucial user interfaces 92 The monetization of data 94 Consider. Think. Decide. 95 A hypothetical project 97 Conclusion 101 CHAPTER 7: Operational Analytics: Advanced Analytics in the Modern Corporation 103 Marketing/Sales 104 Financial services 106 Logistics/Supply chain 108 Manufacturing 111 Process manufacturing 111 Discrete manufacturing 113 Fraud and theft 115 Conclusion 116 CHAPTER 8: Analytics Everywhere, All the Time 119 Agile and ubiquitous 120 Real time 121 Speed, measured in hours 122 Model portability 122 Models everywhere 123 Moving models to the data 125 Limited only by the imagination 127 ADP 127 Whirlpool 128 Georgia Aquarium 128 NASCAR 129 Conclusion 130 Chapter 9: Innovative or Icky? 133 Pushing the innovation envelope 135 Context, permission, and accuracy 136 Target’s targeting of pregnant women 140 About those “free” drinks 141 That feeling of being watched 143 Finding the right path 145 Conclusion 147 CHAPTER 10: What Now? 151 Reason for fear? 152 A tool for augmenting human capacities 154 A new era 158 Conclusion 161

Editorial Reviews

We are moving into an era where information is potentially more valuable than tangible things or services. Organizations who connect information with their product will have a huge advantage, and conversely organizations that miss this transformation will find themselves increasingly un-competitive. No longer just something for the Information Technologists or Data Scientists to deal with, everyone who makes things or serves customers in some way needs to understand how people interact with their product or service in a very granular way. This book will help people in business and government understand the power of data analytics technology and how some of the tools available can be applied to a wide range of applications.

John Swainson, former President, Dell Software Group

John and Shawn bring decades of hands on experience helping clients understand where and how data and analytics can deliver business value and market differentiation. The authors do not get bogged down in the technology tail-chase, but instead provides clear and actionable guidance on how organizations need to embrace a “business first” approach when considering how to exploit the business potential of big data. Like I ask my clients, “How effective is your organization at leveraging data and analytics to power your business?” It’s a question this book will help you to address.

Bill Schmarzo, CTO Big Data, Dell Technologies Services

One could argue—and probably easily win the argument—that there has been more change in analytics over the past ten years than at any time in the history of the world. For that reason alone, a book like this one that provides a clear-eyed assessment of the state of the art in analytics is enormously valuable.

Thomas H. Davenport

From the Publisher