Whether you’re in the market for a new analytics solution, or are looking to update your current analytics platform, there are several key considerations to keep in mind. These considerations include deciding between Prescriptive analytics, Predictive analytics, and Diagnostic analytics. These types of analytics are designed to provide useful information to an organization to help improve decision making and reduce risk.
Predictive analytics
Using predictive analytics can help companies increase their bottom line, make informed decisions, and optimize their resources. These applications can be used in a variety of industries, including healthcare, retail, and marketing.
Predictive analytics involves the use of data and statistical techniques to make predictions about future events, behaviors, or outcomes. These predictions can then be used to help businesses improve their efficiency and prepare for the future.
In order to achieve these outcomes, organizations need to collect data from a variety of sources. Whether the data is structured or unstructured, these data can be used for analysis or for modeling.
Predictive models use statistical and machine learning algorithms to predict the outcomes of future events. These models can then be used to monitor trends, track customer churn, and identify risk. Using predictive models can increase an organization’s ability to respond to crises, manage its supply chain more efficiently, and improve clinical outcomes.
Diagnostic analytics
Using diagnostic analytics, companies can uncover the real cause behind a particular trend. They can also identify which factors may have contributed to a positive or negative result. This can help companies make more informed decisions.
Often, diagnostic analytics is used to explain unexpected events, like a sudden increase in sales. However, it can also be used to determine the cause of a declining website traffic statistic. This can help companies understand why they are not achieving their desired outcomes. It can also help businesses discover opportunities to improve their operations.
In health care, diagnostic analytics can help companies better understand their patients’ needs, as well as determine which products have the highest financial return. It can also identify at-risk customers. These customers may be in poor health, or have unlocked windows or doors, which may lead to burglaries.
For example, a credit card company might use diagnostic analytics to discover that an overseas transaction is correlated with a customer’s high credit card balance. This could be an indication that the transaction was fraudulent.
Prescriptive analytics
Powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, prescriptive analytics is a technique used to identify, analyze, and recommend optimal courses of action for an organization. Prescriptive analytics tools can be used to improve business decisions, enhance the efficiency of an organization, and help identify risks.
Prescriptive analytics solutions can analyze massive data sets, identify risks, and suggest potential solutions. They can also speed up the decision-making process. The results can be used to improve risk mitigation and maximize profitability.
The best prescriptive analytics solutions also use machine learning to enhance capabilities. Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence that allows a machine to parse large amounts of data faster than humans. It can also be used to recommend courses of action based on a specific set of requirements.
Prescriptive analytics can be used to improve decision-making, especially for organizations with low-performance metrics. It can also be used to identify opportunities and shifts in the marketplace.
Big data, mo’ problems?
Despite the hype around Big Data, the challenges facing data scientists and analytics remain enormous. As such, many organizations jump into big data initiatives without a clear understanding of what they are trying to achieve. This article discusses several key areas of concern, including the challenges of data management, the impact of Big Data on statistical inference, and the computational implications of Big Data.
As with all types of data, big data is not a uniform phenomenon. There are different sources of data, data generating schemes, and security and privacy requirements. Moreover, the volume of data is growing exponentially. This requires new computational paradigms and data storage methods to cope with the sheer volume.
Many contemporary datasets involve massive samples, such as genomics, fMRI images, unstructured text corpus, and retail transaction records. Moreover, these samples typically involve a combination of multiple sources, increasing the potential for selection bias, measurement errors, and other heterogeneities.