You are on page 1of 2

The article titled “Business Analytics: The Next Frontier for Decision Sciences” was written by

by James R. Evans, from Carl H. Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati,in 2012.
Author dealt with current and future role of analytics in modern business domain.He defines
the branch of business analytics as "the use of data by statistical methods, information
technology, and their models to help managers gain improved insight about their business
operations and make better, fact-based decisions.Hence it is convergence of three disciplines
that have been for a long time:viz. statistics, business intelligence and information systems, and
modeling and optimization (traditionally, known as operations research and management
science)
Author observed that analytics has been replacing supply-chain management which had been
sought after field in business for past 50 years because of employment opportunities.The
recognition and expansion of the domain was begun in USA 20 years ago and many major
players like IBM already adopted it. Organizations which implement analytics are three times
more likely to perform better than competitors. But there is paucity on both organizations how to
utilize the data and number of experts in business analytics. Sensing that many traditional
academic institutes have redesigned their curriculum to have business analytics both at
undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Also author drew comparison between six sigma and business analytics.Like former which is
about total quality management, business analytics attracted non-domain personnel and both
touch bottom line.
Business analytics has three integrated perspectives namely descriptive, predictive, and
Prescriptive.
Descriptive analytics essentially has four Cs as tools for data:
Categorization,Characterization,Consolidation and Classification.It is helpful in summarizing the
data and identifying patterns and trends in it.
Predictive analysis is interpretation of historical data to support or refute a new outcome,
identifying risks and any hidden patterns.
Finally Prescriptive analytics uses optimization methods to find best alternatives.The solution
depends whether we are looking for maximization or minimization.
However in real world situations,all three are used collectively,hence not completely
independent.The liaison of statistics and business intelligence is called data mining while the
intersection of business intelligence and modelling and optimization is known as what-if
analysis.Thirdly the interplay region of modelling and optimization and statistics is called risk
analysis and simulation.Finally conglomeration all three perspectives is known as data
visualization.
Briefly data mining techniques are PivotTables, correlation and regression analysis, cluster
analysis. What-if analysis is about Scenario Manager, parametric sensitivity analysis,tornado
charts etc.Risk analysis relies on statistics to examine impact of uncertainty in estimates,
output variable of interest, and is often facilitated by Monte Carlo simulation.
Lastly data visualization is core perspective of business analytics as it helps in transmitting the
information easily rather than in abstract form.Also it helps in analysis of patterns and trends in
data.
In summary business analytics is relatively new domain based on academic fields like statistics
and management systems while in turn it helps in opening new vistas for both of them.

You might also like