In Amsterdam, harnessing the power of the (data) tide
With more than 100 km of canals and 1,500 bridges, dikes and dams, Amsterdam has long been in tune with the tides.
Today, as an economic tide tugs at Europe and many regions, organizations are coping with a flood of data – making Amsterdam the ideal setting for the latest event, The Premier Business Leadership Series, where big data surges – both in research and in action.
Today’s most successful organizations are harnessing the deluge of big data for operations, customers, finances, risk and more. By applying advanced analytics, they transform that data into value for their businesses, countries, and regions.
A new research report, Big Data in Big Companies, describes how 20 large firms generate value from their big data assets. Co-authors Tom Davenport of the International Institute for Analytics and Jill Dyché of SAS surveyed executives at AIG, Bank of America, Caesars Entertainment, Carolinas Health Care, CIGNA, Dell, Discover, Fidelity, GE, Macys.com, Schneider National, Sears, T-Mobile, UnitedHealthcare, UPS, Verizon and Wells Fargo. Big data early adopters stressed that analyzing structured and unstructured data delivers big value by creating new capabilities and improving current processes.
Big data on the bottom line
By using current accounting methods, businesses struggle to reflect data as a valued asset. Another new report, this from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) and SAS, explores this challenge.
Data on the Balance Sheet argues that, since European companies use insight from big data analytics to improve customer relations, streamline production and develop new products – potential economic gain – it should be regarded as a company asset.
Businesses account for the cost of collecting, storing and analyzing data. So the time is right to discuss how to value and account for big data.
Better data management = better decisions
For analytics to be effective, raw data must be organized and prepped. SAS has helped companies do this for decades. At this week’s event, SAS announced new SAS® Decision Manager, which integrates predictive analytics, business rules, and data management to help companies improve decisions. With SAS Decision Manager, organizations can automate some decision-making, improving speed and accuracy and ensuring decisions are consistent and repeatable.
Industry-specific analytic advantage
The challenge of analyzing big data crosses all industries. Yet banking, insurance, retail, manufacturing, life sciences, energy, government, telecommunications each require unique approaches.
New SAS® Energy Forecasting helps electric and gas utilities operate and plan more effectively by capitalizing on a huge new data source: data from smart meters.
Faced with volatile wholesale energy markets and increasingly complex asset portfolios, utilities need robust load forecasting to improve planning and operations while ensuring that lights come on when customers flip the switch.
Read all the SAS announcements from Amsterdam or visit http://www.sas.com/news.
- Valuing data on balance sheets vital for European businesses, economies
- Research shows big data paying off for big companies
- New SAS Decision Manager transforms big data into smarter decisions
- SAS Energy Forecasting increases return on smart grid investment
Follow the Premier Business Leadership Series in Amsterdam via Twitter: #PBLS13.
Learn more about SAS solutions for big data.
