Many Eyes are better than one!
What is the future of visual analytics? Many would suggest you’d need an army of data scientists and extensive investment in hardware and software to find out. Not so! With the re-vamp of IBM Many Eyes to deliver a broader selection of visualization techniques, IBM is once again giving the ability to derive insight from data, to the masses.
When it comes to finding nuggets of insight hidden in sheets of data, many eyes are always better than one!
You asked, IBM Analytic Answers!
Historically, small to mid-sized businesses (SMB) have struggled to access the significant return on investment offered by predictive analytics, simply because they don’t have the capital expenditure, time and skills required to implement the technology. That is, until now.
You asked for a way to derive predictive insight without the need to acquire statistical expertise and invest capital. IBM Analytic Answers with predictive analytics offered as a service, hosted via a cloud subscription to provide predictive insight on your data.
Mum’s McAnalytics
To celebrate my mother’s birthday, this post is dedicated to fixing one of her frustrations – being overwhelmed with information that delivers very little insight.
Have you ever found yourself in the situation where you’ve had to make an important business decision, IT have given you a 100-page report (that took months to develop) and yet you can’t find the one answer you need to make the right decision?
Predicting Pro Players
Normally I write about what I know. Today I’m writing about what I wonder.
In case you haven’t already noticed from previous posts, I’m really passionate about sport. Born and raised in Melbourne, the home of Australian Sport, it really isn’t a surprise. Which is why I’m so interested in how analytics is being used to transform the world of sport.
In previous posts I’ve talked about how analytics is helping the Leicester Tigers better predict and prevent injury in players, and how social media is determining a whole new dimension of “winner” in the Grand Slam Tennis tournaments.
But I wonder, can analytics help us to identify junior and amateur players that have the greatest potential to turn pro?
The Solution they want to keep Secret
I love sharing stories about success that my customers have achieved over the years through the use of business analytics technology. But there’s one solution I can’t talk about, because everyone that uses it wants to keep it a secret….from their competitors.
Shhh! You didn’t hear this from me.
Get your AAA rating with Application Agnostic Analytics
Pop quiz: You have an important decision to make – whether to increase the price of one of your best selling products on the market. You can ask your Executive team just ONE question:
A. Finance: What impact will this price change have on our revenues for the year?
B. HR: Is our sales team experienced enough to sell the value of the product at a higher price?
C. Operations: Do we have excess stock that is causing us significant holding costs?
D. Sales: Are there current contracts on the table that would be adversely impacted by the increase?
E. Marketing: What sentiment do our customers have about current prices?
F. Customer: Will a price increase cause some of our highly profitable customers to churn?
G. Product Management: How will the price change position us against our competitors?
Naturally, the answer is H. All of the Above! And yet, many organizations today continue to base their analytical strategy around a single business application and a biased view of overall performance.
Analytics in Sport: Making the Invisible, Visible
This post is inspired by my beloved Essendon Bombers. Who, after showing significant promise at the start of the season beating the top contenders for the championship, have since suffered injury after injury after injury, with nothing short of humiliating defeats in the lead up to the finals.
Analytics in the world of sport is not a new concept, and yet many teams are still to realise its full potential. Much like the world of business, sporting teams around the world are looking to analytics to make the patterns and trends in human performance and game strategy that may be invisible to the human eye, visible.
There’s plenty of fish in the Sea (of Cognos)
There’s plenty of fish in the Sea…and no, this is not a dating blog!
Quite literally, with the help of IBM Cognos, MG Kailis spend more time fishing for seafood and less time fishing for insight.
Game on! The Cognos Insight Challenge
If you’ve been thinking about playing with IBM Cognos Insight, but haven’t got around to it yet, now is the perfect opportunity to get your hands dirty and win global kudos!
Tim O’Bryan has set the challenge on AnalyticsZone to take what is possibly THE most boring data on earth – that is the results of the 2012 British Open – and derive some serious insight using nothing but your desktop, IBM Cognos Insight, and a little creativity. With the free trial version available for download – there are no more excuses.
IBM Cognos Insight: The Prince of Performance Management
The ability to analyse data and derive insight within the confines of your own desktop is one thing. It’s an entirely different experience when you include the ability to manage budgets, forecasts and planning models within the same interactive workspace.
Married to a Chartered Accountant, I’m all too familiar with the intricate copying, pasting, calculations and hidden functions required to create an interactive forecast using Microsoft Excel. Which begs the question: should I tell him how much easier his life could be using software for which interactivity is an inherent part of its DNA?
If IBM Cognos BI is the Queen, and IBM Cognos TM1 is the King, then IBM Cognos Insight is the Prince of Performance Management. Which is why, this week’s Cognos Insight challenge was to analyse the past three years worth of income and expenses for the Prince of Wales, and create a forward-looking forecast to help him manage his Jubilee year budget.
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