ANALY ZE T H I S !
Key attributes for analytics
professionals
The complexity of both
the data sources being
integrated and the
business problems being
addressed under the
banner of analytics is
continuing to grow, and
the breadth of capabilities
needed to implement
effective solutions is often
a very real challenge.
BY VIJAY MEHROTRA
8
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In a recent column, Nicholas Kristof of the New York
Times decries the growing isolation of college and university faculty members [1]. Notably, he quotes Will McCants,
a Middle East specialist at the Brookings Institution, as
saying “Many academics frown on public pontificating as
a frivolous distraction from real research.”
Well, I have a long track record of public pontificating,
and that I’m a big fan of both real research and frivolous
distraction. Indeed, this column has now been in every
issue of this magazine for the last four years. In addition,
I will be speaking at the upcoming Predictive Analytics
World 2014 Conference, which will be held on March 1718 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel here in San Francisco
[2] (and I’d love to see you there!).
This public pontificating is particularly satisfying
when people respond to your ramblings (hint, hint).
Last month’s column was about a few odd interactions
with some technically oriented colleagues about what
“real” analytics actually was. In response, I received a
very thoughtful response from Fredrick Odegaard, a
former supply chain analyst and consultant who is now
on the faculty at the Ivey School of Business. Fred first
proposed his own definition of analytics (“combining
sources of information to create valuable insight that
is not readily apparent from the data alone”) and then
added, “for me, ‘descriptive statistics’ is NOT analytics.
A N A LY T I C S - M A G A Z I N E . O R G
W W W. I N F O R M S . O R G