You may have been redirected from smartenoughsystems.com to this new blog location.
Please use jtonedm.com going forward. The new feed is feeds.feedburner.com/jtonedm.
2nd September 2008

Analytics simplify data to amplify its value

James Taylor Posted by James Taylor
Categories: Predictive Analytics

Analytics simplify data to amplify its value

This was a phrase I remember from my friends in the Fair Isaac R&D team. I have no idea if this is original or a well-known analytic quote but I like it. Think about it, most business users would say they want usable, actionable information not just data so analytics “amplifies value” by replacing large amounts of data with a statement encapsulating what that data implies. After all, better data adds no value to a company only better decisions thanks to better data do.

This entry was posted by James Taylor on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Predictive Analytics.
Tags:, , , ,
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 3 responses to “Analytics simplify data to amplify its value”

Why not let us know what you think by adding your own comment?

  1. 1 On September 3rd, 2008, Tony Rose said:

    I think the statement “better data adds no value to a company only better decisions thanks to better data” is contradicting. 

    Better data, which I am assuming is cleaner and more accurate data, adds value because decision are based upon it.  You can only really make better decisions by having better data, in my opinion.

    Maybe we are saying the same thing in a different way…

  2. 2 On September 3rd, 2008, Chris Gordon said:

    I couldn’t agree more. At my company we have completed our data warehouse (Phase I), implemented great analytics tools with good visualization (Phase II). Now comes Phase III, teaching the business to make better decisions that should come with the better data.
    It was a hard lesson to learn, but better decisions *don’t* follow automatically with better data.  Often, users just fold the better data into their existing world view and contine with their old decision making process (if any process exists).
    cheers,
    Chris Gordon

  3. 3 On September 5th, 2008, David Greer said:

    I like to make the distinction between data and information.  The numbers in a set of financial statements are data.  They don’t mean anything until you interpret them into information about the business, which then helps drive the decisions you need to make about the future of the business (noting that financial statements are always backwards facing).
    It’s the same with analytics.  There’s better and clearer data. The business question is how to you turn the data into information so that you can drive to better decisions? I thought Chris’ post above demonstrated the leadership challenges in making this happen in an organization.

    David Greer
     

Leave a Reply