The annual Predictive Analytics World Government 2012 conference (PAW-G), in only its second year,  drew 470 attendees, more than double the year before! PAW-G is not just another conference where vendors outnumber the government attendees.  Government speakers from 18 government agencies participated this year as featured speakers and panelists and talked about how advanced analytics can reduce fraud, waste and abuse, detect cyber intrusions and threats, better manage and forecast staffing needs, and drive smarter decisions and better results.

As government leaders continue to grapple with budget and resource constraints, they have become much more open to the possibilities of predictive analytics to address some of the really tough business problems.  Many even see it as a “force multiplier.” However, getting executive leadership to buy in, and actively engage in predictive analytics projects is a little more challenging.

The typical government executive is not deeply grounded in analytic techniques or methods.  When analysts or other technical types present mountains of bubble charts or line graphs to executives who are not data scientists of statisticians, they lose the opportunity to sell the value of predictive analytics in solving business problems.

The first panel of the day tackled the executive buy-in challenge.  Bailey Spencer of SAS moderated a three-person panel made up of current and former government managers with experience in the art of “Gaining Executive and Senior Management Support for Predictive Analytics.”

The advice provided during this panel and throughout the panel was pretty simple:

• Understand the business problems and tell an analytics story that is real and relevant to the executive.
• Be a translator.  Translate analytics-speak into business-speak.
• Gain their trust.  Make sure the numbers you provide are accurate because you won’t get many chances to go back.

Later in the day, another speaker put it another way and said, “Hit their ‘careabouts.’” Don’t go too far into the details or be too technical or they will be looking for the emergency exit.”