This book is about the process of using analytics and the capabilities of analytics in today's organizations. Cutting through the buzz surrounding the term analytics and the overloaded expectations about using analytics, the book demystifies analytics with an in-depth examination of concepts grounded in operations research and management science.
Analytics as a set of tools and processes is only as effective as:
- The data with which it is working
- The human judgment applying the processes and understanding the output of these processes.
For this reason, the book focuses on the analytics process. What is intrinsic to analytics' real organizational impact are the careful application of tools and the thoughtful application of their outcomes. This work emphasizes analytics as part of a process that supports decision-making within organizations. It wants to debunk overblown expectations that somehow analytics outputs or analytics as applied to other concepts, such as Big Data, are the be-all and end-all of the analytics process. They are, instead, only a step within a holistic and critical approach to management thinking that can create real value for an organization.
To develop this holistic approach, the book is divided into two sections that examine concepts and applications. The frst section makes the case for executive management taking a holistic approach to analytics. It draws on rich research in operations and management science that form the context in which analytics tools are to be applied. There is a strong emphasis on knowledge management concepts and techniques, as well as risk management concepts and techniques. The second section focuses on both the use of the analytics process and organizational issues that are required to make the analytics process relevant and impactful.
This book comprises the analytics process and ways of developing analytics capabilities in organizations. Organizations require, for the application of analytics, a guide in order to use proper data to generate adequate actions. It concentrates on presenting the organization of the analytics process for using human, data and technological resources in the search to improve the problem solving and decision making processes. The book describes the experience of the authors dealing with an avalanche of data and the steps followed to provide value to organizations.
