Business Analytics Revolution

Effective use of information is an increasingly important factor for success.

"Is a supermarket a business that sells food
    or is it a business that exploits knowledge
... about customer preferences, geographic biases, supply chain logistics,
product life cycle, sales patterns ...
to optimize its operations
... like delivery, inventory, pricing, product placement, promotion ...
to grow and to increase margins?
The answer to that question may determine your
company's long-term viability in the Information Age."


Source: Business Intelligence, by David Loshin, page 11

The greatest revolution in management of the past two decades has been the increasing ability to supplement judgment with knowledge that is based on hard data, to help make better decisions at all levels.

  • Create analytic information from operating data.
  • Combine analytic information with expert feedback to create knowledge about the business.
  • Use knowledge to improve plans and action programs that improve performance.
  • Translate strategy into operating metrics that make strategy a force at the operational level.

More organizations than ever before have the computing resources, the data, and the skills to extract valuable insights from their data. This revolution affects all business functions and organizational strategy.