1. What is Analytics?
http://alfredessa.com
April 2013

2. :: analytics is a journey

3. :: the analytics journey has three stages

4. :: each stage of the journey involves data

5. :: analytics stage one
is data about the past

6. :: at best it’s data about the present

7. :: analytics stage one is reporting

8. :: and traditional business intelligence

9. Analytics Stages of Maturity
STAGE ONE
what happened?
information value
what is happening?
Data Access Reporting
insight
http://alfredessa.com

10. ! KEY
:: analytics stage one provides retrospective data

11. :: analytics stage two
is data about the future

12. :: it provides our predicted future, where we are going

13. :: stage two uses techniques such as predictive modeling

14. :: and inferential statistics to forecast risk

15. Analytics Stages of Maturity
STAGE ONE STAGE TWO
information value
what will happen?
what happened?
what is happening?
Predictive
Risk Modeling
Forecasting
Data Access Reporting
insight http://alfredessa.com

16. ! KEY
:: analytics stage two predicts the future

17. :: analytics stage three
is data about the desired future

18. :: analytics stage three is the holy grail

19. :: it’s optimization

20. :: optimization means finding the best path among
multiple options

21. Analytics Stages of Maturity
STAGE THREE
what do i want to happen?
STAGE TWO
what will happen?
information value
STAGE ONE
what happened?
what is happening?
Strategy
Optimization
Predictive
Risk Modeling
Forecasting
Data Access Reporting
insight http://alfredessa.com

22. let’s end with a definition
:: analytics is not more data!

23. definition
:: analytics is finding the optimal path
to a desired future

24. alternate definition
:: analytics is optimizing decision making
in situations of uncertainty