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MISY262: Fundamentals of Business

Analytics
Introduction

Ali Tosyali, PhD


Assistant Professor of MIS
Intro to Business Analytics
● Data are being generated at an increasing velocity in an overwhelming
volume.
● Analysis of data under the umbrella of business analytics helps us make
better decisions.
● Managers, consumers, bankers, sports enthusiasts, politicians, and medical
professionals turning to data to
○ Boost a company’s revenue
○ Deepen customer engagement
○ Find better options on consumer products
○ Prevent threats and fraud
○ Assess the riskiness of loans
○ Succeed in sports and elections
○ Provide better diagnosis and cures for diseases, and so on.
But what is Business Analytics?
● In the broadest sense, business analytics involves the methodology of
extracting information and knowledge from data
○ that includes a company’s bottom-line and enhances the consumer experience.
● At the core, business analytics benefits companies by
○ developing better marketing strategies,
○ deepening customer engagement,
○ enhancing efficiency in procurement,
○ uncovering ways to reduce expenses,
○ identifying emerging market trends,
○ mitigating risk and fraud, etc.
Why it suddenly became popular?
● The explosion in the field is partly due to the
○ growing availability of vast amounts of data,
○ improved computational power,
○ and the development of sophisticated algorithms.
It is a broad topic
● Encompasses
○ statistics,
○ computer science,
○ and information systems

with a wide variety of applications in

○ marketing,
○ human resource management,
○ economics,
○ finance,
○ health,
○ sports,
○ politics, etc.
Raw data do not offer much value or insight.
● Capturing a large amount of data or implementing complex statistical models
has been simplified.
● However, to extract value from data, we need to
○ understand the business context,
○ ask the right questions from the data,
○ identify appropriate analysis models,
○ and communicate information into verbal and written language.
● Numerical results need to be accompanied by clearly stated actionable
business insights.
In summary...
Business analytics combines qualitative reasoning with quantitative tools to
identify key problems and translate data analysis into decisions that improve
business performance.
Types of Analytics Techniques
● Three broad categories
○ 1. Descriptive analytics:
■ gathering, organizing, tabulating, and visualizing data to summarize “what has
happened?”
■ Examples include financial reports, public health statistics, enrollment at universities,
student report cards, and crime rates across regions and time.
○ 2. Predictive analytics:
■ using historical data to predict “what could happen in the future?”
■ Examples include identifying customers who most likely to respond to specific marketing
campaigns, admitted students who are likely to enroll, credit card transactions that are
likely to be fraudulent, or the incidence of crime at certain regions and times.
Types of Analytics Techniques (cont.)
● Three broad categories
○ 3. Prescriptive analytics:
■ using optimization and simulation algorithms to provide advice on “what should we do?”
■ Examples include providing advice on scheduling employees’ work hours and supply
level in order to meet customer demands, selecting a mix of products to manufacture,
choosing an investment portfolio to meet a financial goal, or targeting marketing
campaigns to specific customer groups on a limited budget.
Some important business analytics applications
● Fashion retailers.
○ Traditional businesses ranging from apparel companies to food retailers invest heavily in data
and analytics technologies in order to remain competitive and profitable.
Some important business analytics applications
● Online subscription.
○ Nowadays, recommendation systems based on big data and analytics are used pervasively by
companies across industries.
Some important business analytics applications
● Sports.
○ Sports analytics uses data on players’ statistics and other sports-related information to drive
decision making.
Some important business analytics applications
● Healthcare.
○ Big data and analytics are also increasingly used in the medical field.
These examples show that ...
● Analytics is taking the radical approach to improving organizations’
decision-making abilities.
● The data-driven approach is replacing and complimenting the traditional
decision-making process that relies heavily on a few experts and their
subjective judgment.
● This has led to more accurate, often overlooked, and unexpected findings,
which have morphed into competitive advantages with the help of the right
domain expertise.

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