Artificial Intelligence for Business Analytics: Algorithms, Platforms and Application Scenarios

While methods of artificial intelligence (AI) were until a few years ago exclusively a topic of scientific discussions, today they are increasingly finding their way into products of everyday life. At the same time, the amount of data produced and available is growing due to increasing digitalization, the integration of digital measurement and control systems, and automatic exchange between devices (Internet of Things). In the future, the use of business intelligence (BI) and a look into the past will no longer be sufficient for most companies.

Instead, business analytics, i.e., predictive and predictive analyses and automated decisions, will be needed to stay competitive in the future. The use of growing amounts of data is a significant challenge and one of the most important areas of data analysis is represented by artificial intelligence methods.

This book provides a concise introduction to the essential aspects of using artificial intelligence methods for business analytics, presents machine learning and the most important algorithms in a comprehensible form using the business analytics technology framework, and shows application scenarios from various industries. In addition, it provides the Business Analytics Model for Artificial Intelligence, a reference procedure model for structuring BA and AI projects in the company.

This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition Künstliche Intelligenz für Business Analytics by Felix Weber, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2020. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

About the Author

Felix Weber is a scientist at the University of Duisburg-Essen with a research focus on digitalization, artificial intelligence, price, promotion and assortment management, and transformation management. At the Chair of Information Systems and Integrated Information Systems, he is the founder of the Retail Artificial Intelligence Lab (retAIL) and at the same time a senior consultant for SAP systems in wholesale and retail. He thus combines current practice with scientific research in this subfield.