FEATURE : ANALYTICS
Benefits of analytics
With enterprises in MEA deploying analytics in their IT environments , what are some of the benefits of analytics and how can organisations deploy the technology to ensure success ?
Rakesh Jayaprakash , Product Manager , ManageEngine , said besides the obvious benefit of bringing organisation-wide visibility , an important function of analytics is to aid with informed decision-making .
Jayaprakash explained that traditionally , analytics was thought to be a glorified version of reports that people are all used to , but options such as running what-if scenarios , predictive analytics and ability to display rolebased metrics sets analytics apart .
“ Before making decisions that involve process level changes that are aimed at increasing productivity , decision makers can feed parameters into analytics applications , visualise outcomes and compare the outcomes with desired results .
“ This helps in addressing minor pitfalls early on , before decisions are made and can potentially save a lot of man-hours and rework ,” he said .
Gathering data from applications used by various departments also involves a human aspect : convincing department heads to
allow access to applications they use to run their day-to-day activities .
Jayaprakash added that : “ CIOs should play a lead role in getting individual departments onboard and make them realise the vision of bringing organisationwide visibility using analytics platforms .
Heriot-Watt University Dubai ’ s Hamdan agreed with Jayaprakash and said in today ’ s complex business environment , the field of data analytics is growing in acceptance and importance , and it is playing a critical role as a decision-making resource for executives , especially those managing large companies .
“ Corporations are moving to use Big Data and analytics to track consumer sentiment , build customer loyalty , gain competitive advantages and make more effective business decisions .
“ A business can use data to create a customised shopping experience for customers , prompting a website to suggest products that customers are likely to purchase ,” he said .
For decades , those armed with the business intelligence class of analytics tools in the Middle East have plumbed financial and logistical databases to identify new business opportunities , flag weaknesses and gain competitive advantage . More recently , with the addition of Machine Learning to identify patterns in data , analytics is proving scarily accurate at predicting future outcomes .
In the age of analytics everywhere , that should be welcome news for organisations in the region , especially when augmented by Machine Learning , the insights derived from analytics will play an increasingly strategic role in steering enterprises going forward . •
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