The Analytics Revolution How to Improve Your Business By Making Analytics Operational In The Big Data Era

Lead your organization into the industrial revolution of analytics with The Analytics Revolution

The topics of big data and analytics continue to be among the most discussed and pursued in the business world today. While a decade ago many people still questioned whether or not data and analytics would help improve their businesses, today virtually no one questions the value that analytics brings to the table. The Analytics Revolution focuses on how this evolution has come to pass and explores the next wave of evolution that is underway. Making analytics operational involves automating and embedding analytics directly into business processes and allowing the analytics to prescribe and make decisions. It is already occurring all around us whether we know it or not.

The Analytics Revolution delves into the requirements for laying a solid technical and organizational foundation that is capable of supporting operational analytics at scale, and covers factors to consider if an organization is to succeed in making analytics operational. Along the way, you'll learn how changes in technology and the business environment have led to the necessity of both incorporating big data into analytic processes and making them operational. The book cuts straight through the considerable marketplace hype and focuses on what is really important. The book includes:

• An overview of what operational analytics are and what trends lead us to them
• Tips on structuring technology infrastructure and analytics organizations to succeed
• A discussion of how to change corporate culture to enable both faster discovery of important new analytics and quicker implementation cycles of what is discovered
• Guidance on how to justify, implement, and govern operational analytics

The Analytics Revolution gives you everything you need to implement operational analytic processes with big data.

Foreword xi

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xxv

PART I The Revolution Has Begun 1

Chapter 1 Understanding Operational Analytics 3

Defining Operational Analytics 4

Welcome to Analytics 3.0 10

How Analytics Are Changing Business 20

Putting Operational Analytics in Perspective 26

Wrap-Up 30

Notes 31

Chapter 2 More Data . . . More Data . . . Big Data! 33

Cutting through the Hype 33

Preparing for Big Data 39

Putting Big Data in Context 48

Wrap-Up 58

Notes 59

Chapter 3 Operational Analytics in Action 61

Improving Customer Experiences 62

Time Is of the Essence 68

Making Us Safer 71

Increasing Operational Efficiency 74

Improving Our Lives in the Future 77

Finding Unexpected Value in Data 79

Wrap-Up 83

Notes 84

PART II Laying the Foundation 87

Chapter 4 Want Budget? Build the Business Case! 89

Setting the Priorities 89

Choosing the Right Decision Criteria 93

Business Case Framework to Consider 101

Tips for Creating a Winning Business Case 108

Wrap-Up 115

Notes 116

Chapter 5 Creating an Analytic Platform 117

Planning 118

Building 123

Using 140

Wrap-Up 143

Notes 145

Chapter 6 Governance and Privacy 147

Setting the Stage for Governance 148

Deciding Where Analytics Happen 154

Governing Operational Analytics 158

Privacy 165

Wrap-Up 172

Notes 173

PART III Making Analytics Operational 175

Chapter 7 The Analytics 177

Creating Operational Analytics Processes 177

Expanding into New Analytics Disciplines 181

Focusing Analytics Efforts 187

Comparing Analytics Approaches 193

Lessons from the Past 198

Wrap-Up 204

Notes 205

Chapter 8 The Analytics Organization 207

A Major Shift Has Occurred 207

Staffing 209

Organizing 218

Succeeding 225

Wrap-Up 234

Notes 235

Chapter 9 The Analytics Culture 237

Instilling the Proper Mind-set 237

Implementing Effective Policies 245

Facilitating Success 250

Enabling and Handling the Right Failures 256

Wrap-Up 261

Notes 262

Conclusion Join the Revolution! 263

About the Author 267

Index 269

BILL FRANKS is the Chief Analytics Officer for Teradata, where he provides insight on trends in the analytics and big data space and helps clients understand how to use them to improve their business. His expertise is in translating complex analytics into terms that business users can understand. Franks is the author of Taming the Big Data Tidal Wave (Wiley, 2012), which was listed on Tom Peters' 2014 list of "Must Read" books. He is also a faculty member of the International Institute for Analytics.