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By Greg Todd Organisations want to leverage analytics as a way to move ahead with less cost. They are not only doing analytics on their customers and their sales, but […]

A lot of buzz phrases are thrown around in the insurance and technology industries. One of the most popular right now is 'the cloud,' but we all know that it [...]

Dala stands at the heart of any organization. Timely, accurate, complete and secure information that is easily accessible allows a business to make better critical and everyday decisions. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [...]

The article explains the five considerations to improve estimates of business intelligence (BI) projects. Organizations are reminded about cost overruns and delays as the implications of generalization and guessing. Emphasis is given on the need for the work breakdown structure and work effort to be based on deliverables such as number of requirements, use cases, tables, reports, operational procedures, architecture components and executables. Through harvesting, calibration and corroboration, one can achieve scalability that builds historical context and an expertise knowledge base. Consideration must also be given on the development of full-time solution architect roles in performing project estimates.

The article focuses on the importance of information management and analytics in customer service. It stresses that the Internet has become a pre-eminent broadcasting platform and provides search and electronic commerce capabilities with social networking functions and an anticipated line of geographic and location-specific mobile services. With this, customers tend to compare products and services and purchase products that are personalized for them. It cites companies that use analytics for business strategies, such as Netflix which offers the Cinematch movie recommendation engine and AC Milan which launched a biomedical research center for evaluating players' performance and injury potential. It notes that analytics allow firms to understand customer preferences and attitudes.

The article discusses the six important steps to predictive and descriptive analytics in business statistical modeling and forecasting. It mentions that determining the key metrics and targets focus on the proper and effective identification of strategic business issues. It suggests that software automation is essential in engine optimization and generating a forecasting capability and pattern recognition. According to the author, validating insight is helpful because it allows information technology (IT) experts to create programs that will enhance business outcomes.

The article focuses on the use of smart grid by U.S. utilities to address the impact of challenges posed by power delivery, asset management and consumer experience. According to the author, utilities are faced with unprecedented amount of data as they move toward smarter grids. He notes that outcomes can be optimized by data management design by extracting consistent information which drives benefits for the business and by minimizing the costs of infrastructure needed to obtain data. Smart grid data can also be categorized as operational, nonoperational, meter usage, event message and metadata.

The article discusses the importance of human resource (HR) data to the improvement of workforce performance. Results of a study conducted by Accenture revealed the belief of executives that their companies need to enhance analytical capabilities in order to strengthen competitiveness. This can be done by HR managers by determining which programs will improve workforce performance. The analysis of HR data leads to several factors including improvement in employee productivity, improvement of customer service, and positive effect on business.

In this article the author discusses the application of analytics capabilities to transform a specific function or business process. The factors that prompt companies to develop analytic capabilities include the pressures of increasing volumes, rapid technology advancements and the emergence of new sources of data. Information is presented on a project for a large insurance company to develop an innovative business intelligence solution which resulted in cost savings of 1.3 million U.S. dollars.

The article discusses the performance analytics strategies being used by companies. It states that the right information strategies can determine the ultimate survival of an enterprise. Predictive performance analytics, unlike business intelligence, involves looking forward, looking deeper and extrapolating projections out of data in real time. It is noted that management needs to be prepared to consider analytics as part of decision-making. Analytics, according to the article, is difficult and complex, and provides a possibility of scientific thinking into management.

The article discusses how global organizations manage their information. Information management can refer to the discipline of being able to accommodate growing levels of flexibility and access to information as well as scalability of infrastructure, while providing more integrated information. Information management is changing in order to meet the demands of an increasingly globally distributed workforce that requires flexible, task-driven, accurate information on an as-needed basis. Organizations will be more interested in fostering innovation and applying creative uses of information and less time aggregating data and content or challenging the results.

The article discusses the developments when it comes to analytics in business information management. Analytics is said to be an approach to improving business operations. It is said to be the force that pushes enterprises to the next level of sophistication and improvement in operating models. Analytics deals with workday realities concerning businesses, answering important questions related to customer services and operations. The article also notes that the company, Accenture has identified five main analytics capabilities including real-time decision-making, predictive modeling and text mining, among others.

The article features data governance as the enabler of high performance. It explains that data governance is fundamental in the effective use of information. The cost of poor governance is hidden in inefficient business processes, excessive data management activities and the inability to use information for strategic business advantage. It stresses that the implementation of data governance is planned with phases reflecting an organization's evolution along the information management spectrum. The article also adds that data governance enables high performance because it is a key component in effective information management.

The article considers the initial investments made by the oil and gas sectors to formalize work processes and capture information and data within parts of the enterprise. These investments are considered as a business opportunity as well as competitive necessity to further standardize work processes throughout enterprises and integrate information with the work process. The integration is being driven by compliance and standardization requirements. Through the implementation of environments that offer data and process visibility, there is an opportunity to move from reactive to future looking.

The article discusses the need for a business to understand the sales potential within each approach and become predictive about their outcomes to increase market share for one's product or service. If companies expect to grow market share, they must start by determining the location of the most promising sources of new revenue. This means employing share of wallet of existing customers and market potential of prospective ones. Successful cross selling/up selling necessitates more than having an array of attractive products.

Presents letters to the editor referencing articles and topics discussed in previous issues. "10 Steps to SOA," which featured service-oriented architecture; "Microsoft Poised to Take on TiVo," which discussed the possible venture of Microsoft into digital video recording.