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“Data science begins with data. Nothing gets built without data. Data science continues with science. Accurate, persuasive and effective prediction requires patterns. The process of discovering that pattern is science. Any product worth building requires a reliable pattern to exist in the data.”
– Christopher Berry, co-founder and chief science officer of Authintic, in his article on recommendation engines in the current issue of Analytics.
(Selected articles that ran in previous issues of Analytics that merit a second look.)
"Analytics & the future of healthcare" by Peter Horner and Atanu Basu
Market-driven reform is already shifting emphasis from volume to value as industry leaders weigh in on what’s next.
Headlines
Big data paying off for big companies
A new research report, “Big Data in Big Companies,” describes how 20 large firms benefit from big data projects. Report co-authors Tom Davenport of the International Institute for Analytics (IIA) and Jill Dyché of SAS, the leader in business analytics, explore how these companies have deployed analytics to generate value from their big data assets. Read more
Continuing education courses for analytics professionals
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences’ (INFORMS) Continuing Education program will offer its first two courses this fall. These intensive, two-day, in-person courses will provide analytical professionals with key skills, tools and methods that can be implemented immediately in a work environment. Read more
Study: Top CPOs drive higher profit margins
IBM recently released a study that indicates companies with high-performing procurement organizations are driving better bottom line results. According to the study, these organizations report profit margins of 7.12 percent as compared to just 5.83 percent for companies with low-performing procurement organizations. Read more
Retail stores set for digital makeover
When shopping in a store with mobile-equipped store associates, 65 percent of U.S. shoppers and 75 percent of European shoppers expect the associates to be able to check product pricing on that mobile device, according to new Forrester data based on a survey of more than 4,000 U.S. and 13,000 EU respondents. Additionally, 38 percent and 60 percent, respectively, expect the associate to use her mobile device to answer technical questions about a product. Read more
Study: Who can best manage ‘voice of the customer’?
Over the next three years, global organizations will make understanding and interacting with the customer their top priority. So says a new study from The Economist Intelligence Unit titled, “Voice of the customer: Whose job is it, anyway?” Yet only 56 percent of respondents to the survey, sponsored by SAS, believe their companies clearly understand the customer today. Read more
‘Smart water’ analytics helps reduce water loss, cut costs
As water increasingly becomes one of the world’s most precious resources, IBM scientists are working with Arad Group, a world leader in reliable water meter systems, to help water companies and utilities around the globe provide more effective and efficient management of drinking water through the use of big data and advanced analytics technology. Read more
Analytics Section of INFORMS News
Innovative Applications in Analytics Award
A team led by Cynthia Rudin of MIT won the 2013 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award from the Analytics Section of INFORMS for the entry, “Analytics for Power Grid Distribution Reliability in New York City,” conducted in conjunction with researchers from MIT, Columbia University and Con Edison (one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States). The award was presented at the INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & Operations Research, held in San Antonio, Texas, April 7-9. Read more
Student Analytical Scholar winner announced
Oleksandr Akulov, a management grad student studying operations research at the University of British Columbia, was named the winner of the Student Analytical Scholar Competition sponsored by the Analytics Section of INFORMS and supported by SAS. Read more
Industry News
Banks speed lending with FICO’s cloud-based loan solution
FICO, a leading predictive analytics and decision management software company, recently announced that 1st United Bank, First Utah Bank, Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank, and MetroBank are implementing the FICO LiquidCredit service, a cloud-based scoring solution that speeds consumer and small business lending decisions. The FICO solution will enable these lenders to approve small business loan applications in hours, not days, and help improve customer satisfaction and attract more small business customers. Read more
ShopperTrak acquires interior analytics provider RapidBlue
ShopperTrak, the world’s largest counter and analyser of retail foot traffic, has aquired RapidBlue Solutions Oy, a leading European provider of retail data and analytics. Read more
Smart grid analytics ROI to exceed $121.8 billion globally by 2020
Utilities worldwide must maximize efficiency for constrained energy resources. Many are realizing the smart grid vision by using SAS Analytics and SAS Data Management to discover powerful insights buried in volumes of new data. SAS enables utilities to harness data for pinpoint control and monitoring, usage and demand forecasting, rapid diagnosis and repair, as well as predicting output from renewable sources such as solar and wind. For those capabilities, business analytics leader SAS is ranked No. 1 for smart grid analytics and data management/movement in the recently released utility industry report, “The... Read more
FICO analytic cloud to enable real-time customer engagement
FICO will deliver its analytic-powered customer engagement services via the new FICO Analytic Cloud, for creating, customizing and deploying analytic-driven applications and services. Application developers, FICO clients and FICO partners will be able to take advantage of these services to rapidly create, execute and manage high-volume campaigns that engage customers in real-time with mass personalization across channels including brick-and-mortar, social and mobile. Read more
June 23-26, 2013
INFORMS Healthcare 2013
Chicago, IL
October 6–9, 2013
2013 INFORMS Annual Meeting
Minneapolis, MN
June 10-14, 2013
Predictive Analytics World
Chicago, IL
September 8-14, 2013
2013 ASE/IEEE International Conference on Big Data
Washington, DC
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