Predictive Analytics Is Transforming Big Data and Business
Learn How at the Next Tech in Focus Event

Big data can be a crystal ball for modern businesses, but one that is often cloudy and hard to interpret. Predictive analytics is a fast-emerging tool that can transform that data into useful information that gives businesses clearer views of the future.

On March 27^th, WTIA will host a panel of experts who will explain how predictive analytics is changing the way technology companies make decisions and do business.

Essentially, predictive analytics reverses traditional business intelligence. Instead of telling a business what happened last quarter, predictive analytics interprets troves of data – everything from consumer shopping habits to hiring patterns – to help executives and managers understand what will happen in the future, according to Stephen Purpura, CEO of Seattle-based Context Relevant.

“The writing is on the wall. The companies that do this successfully make all the money,” Purpura said. There is an “increasing arms race to know now about the world around you and how it changes prices.”

This arms race is occurring in nearly every corner of the economy, from technology and health care to air travel and government, in part because the potential value predictive analytics could create is so large. The U.S. health care industry, for example, could realize $300 billion in new value annually by using data to improve quality and become more efficient, a 2011 McKinsey Global Institute report found. The report said that computer, electronic products, information, finance, insurance, and government industries were particularly well positioned to take advantage of big data.

In the past, predictive analytics required statisticians or PHD-armed experts. Thanks to technological breakthroughs and new software most businesses will soon be able to apply predictive analytics to their work, according to Purpura. Given its value, most businesses should consider it, he added.

Many executives, however, may think they are adopting this approach, but instead may be falling short. Nearly half of consumer packaged goods executives said their companies were “analytical leaders” or have ‘”ingrained” analytics, according to a study released by Accenture last month.

The problem is only nine percent of those surveyed executives made predictive analytics a priority and nearly a third said their analytics staff focused on managing big data, the report added.

“Although the development of analytical capabilities and capacity is extremely important, a focus on data, methods and technology alone will not magically deliver the insights needed for competitive edge,” Bob Berkey, who is managing director in Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Services division, said in a statement. “CPG companies are investing in analytical talent but now leadership needs to focus on instilling the right analytical culture and create, champion and sustain an analytics vision.”

Finding enough of that talent will be one of the big challenges in the coming years. People with core skills – technical knowledge, skills to put that knowledge into practice and the ability to explain what predictive analytics means to executives – are still rare, according to Purpura.
Learn more about the potential of predictive analytics at WTIA’s next Tech in Focus event on March 27^th. Leaders in the field will talk about how companies use this approach to reach customers, evaluate performance and analyze markets.

Read more here.