A Practitioner's Guide to Business Analytics: Using Data Analysis Tools to Improve Your Organization's Decision Making and Strategy

The real tragedy of a company failing while using analytics is the fact that its leaders will have the data to explain the failure, but they won't have the capabilities in place to filter the data and convert it into actionable business insights. One implication of Big Data is that we need to adapt . . . quickly. A Practitioner's Guide to Business Analytics integrates powerful strategies for leveraging analytics inside a business with a how-to playbook of tactics to make it happen.

The case for competing based on analytics is clear, but until now, there hasn't been authoritative guidance for inciting a corporate community to evolve into a thriving, analytics-driven environment. This hands-on book gives you the tools, knowledge, and strategies to capture the level of organizational commitment you need to get business analytics up and running in your company. It helps you define what business analytics is, quantify the exponential value it brings to an organization, and show others how to harness its power to gain advantage over competitors.

Accomplished business information professional Randy Bartlett brings his comprehensive coverage to life with firsthand accounts of using business analytics at brand-name global companies. Through in-depth examinations of success stories and failures in analytics-based decision making and data analyses, he fully prepares you to:

• Assess your company's analytics needs and capabilities, and develop a strategic analytics plan
• Steward the three pillars of Best Statistical Practice and accurately measure the quality of analytics-based decisions and data analyses
• Build and organize a specialized Business Analytics Team to lead infrastructural changes
• Upgrade the foundation that supports business analytics--data collection, data software, and data management
• Create the essential synergy for success between the Business Analytics Team and IT

Effectively integrating analytics into everyday decision making, corporate culture, and business strategy is a multifront exercise in leadership, execution, and support. The specialized tools and skill sets required to succeed are finally in one resource--A Practitioner's Guide to Business Analytics.

About the Author

Randy Bartlett, Ph.D. is among the rising authorities on Business Analytics. He is currently a Senior Principal with Infosys Technologies Limited, where he leads a growing Business Analytics practice. He has 20+ years of experience in delivering BA, several years of leading analytics teams, and nine years of training: Ph.D. & M.S. Department of Statistics, Texas A&M University; B.S. Computer Science & Statistics, Iowa State University. His first-hand experience has been derived from working at Applied Research Associates (ARA), AHQR (Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research), AstraZeneca, Bell South, BMS, Fannie Mae, Infosys, Inspire/Merck, JDA Software, NHA (National Highway Administration), PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Associates/Citigroup, Wells Fargo, etc. He has worked both sides of the desk: consulting and hiring consultants; and he has a great deal of experience reviewing projects and statistical analyses. He has provided a number of novel statistical solutions in business and holds two patents for predictive modeling. He previously contributed to the Encyclopedia For Research Design.