Like all scientific breakthroughs, there needs to be some sort of experiment or evidence gathering to prove a hypothesis. Sometimes these breakthroughs are unrelated to the original hypothesis and are made by accident - as long as there’s some form of information to analyse, there’s scope for discovery. With so
In a noisy distribution environment, hotels are in significant danger of becoming commoditized. Differentiating themselves not only from the competition, but from the third party distributors, will be crucial to maintaining a competitive edge, or even just maintaining profitability. In an effort to connect better with guests, most hotel companies
Recently I have been out speaking with a number of organizations about the idea of the innovation lab concept , which I discussed in a previous blog post, as the way to unleash the power of big data and make even the largest of companies as agile as a startup. During my
Increasingly, automotive executives want to talk about the "Art of the Possible" in analytics. So we took the opportunity to invite leaders around the industry to an Automotive Analytics Executive Roundtable to share their stories and spark new ideas. A myriad of diverse speakers covered a variety of topics on big data/Hadoop, the
Forget about Big Volume, for my money the real value in Big Data comes from its variety. Why? Because just as there is “Value in the Network” when it comes to your business ecosystem, your data can be "networked" for value in much the same way. Before we dive into the business implications
Did you know the US-Malawi trade relationship is based almost entirely on tobacco? Or that apparel & accessories drive Morocco & Tunisia exports while their North African neighbors rely on oil? The United Nations Statistics Division collects detailed international trade data from more than 200 countries on the import and
Advances in technology, evolution of the distribution channels, demographic shift, economic conditions and regulations changes. How does an insurer prioritize all these seemingly competing goals and create sustainable competitive advantage. One answer is analytics. Many insurance companies are just beginning to take steps toward becoming an “analytic insurer” – one
Fraud is a growing problem for businesses – and one of the biggest threats comes from an organisation’s own employees. In many countries, the incidence of internal fraud is rising. According to the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS), in the UK alone there was an 18 percent rise in the total
When do analytics really provide value? All the time, of course. However, one of the best times for analytics to prove their value is when you are asked to do more with less. Often, the reason we are asked to do more with less is because of an economic downturn
Companies have become obsessed with product quality – and for good reason. Customer dynamics, their willingness to expose product quality issues socially on the web, and the ease with which they can jump to competitive products make quality a more important differentiator than ever before. Over the past 15 years,
