PARTNERS ’ PERSPECTIVE
Part of the Lynchpin Media team , Manda Banda has more than 20 years of experience working for channel publications . He shares the knowledge he has learnt during that time in this monthly column for Intelligent Tech Channels .
Why business analytics presents immense opportunities for channel partners
Manda Banda , Managing Editor , Intelligent Tech Channels
Manda Banda is also Lynchpin Media ’ s Managing Editor of Intelligent CIO Middle East and Intelligent CIO Africa magazines .
Business analytics is the iterative , methodical exploration of an organisation ’ s data , with an emphasis on statistical analysis . Successful business analytics depends on data quality , skilled analysts who understand the technologies and business . With business analytics being used by companies that use data-driven decision-making , channel partners are being encouraged to take notice and capitalise on the immense opportunities that are opening .
The business analytics industry in the Middle East region is filled with numerous opportunities . Governments in the GCC have set ambitious plans and targets to unlock the possibilities offered by Big Data . These include initiatives such as Smart Dubai , Tasmu Qatar , UAE Smart Data Strategy and KSA Digital Strategy for example . That being the case , business analytics is now seen as a valuable tool that will help these countries drive economic growth and improve decisionmaking and something that all well-meaning solution providers should take notice of .
And because business analytics is the process of applying Big Data , statistical analysis , and data visualisation to extract meaningful insights needed to make informed business decisions , it ’ s undeniable that business analytics is an indispensable tool in today ’ s highly competitive IT and enterprise technology marketplace . Companies across most industries are spawning vast amounts of data which , in turn , has spurred the need for people who know how to interpret and analyse that data and that ’ s where channel partners come in . However , not every channel partner can play in the business analytics space simply because deploying the right business analytics strategy is not something that resellers can achieve overnight . However , there are specific best practices that can help ensure that your channel partner business is successful with business analytics implementation as much as possible .
These best practices include establishing the business use case and the goal before implementing business analytics , determining the specific criteria for success and failure , validating models using the chosen criteria for success and failure , designing a methodology , narrowing down data , and identifying the internal and external factors needed for making a precise projection to your end-user client .
While planning the IT infrastructure for a business analytics implementation , you as a channel partner need to ask three important questions that address the objective by clearly defining the end-goal and what the business wants to achieve with the implementation , what data is available to the business ? Which department will contribute to the data universe and what systems do you need to capture the right data and finally , defining a series of steps that will be deployed to convert raw data into actionable business insights ? Remember it is the actionable business insights and fact-based decisions that drive an organisation to embark on business analytics implementation .
Aside from infrastructure architecting and implementation issues , you need to be aware of the three primary types of analytics that include descriptive analytics , predictive analytics and prescriptive analytics . All these are interconnected solutions that help companies leverage data to interpret various business scenarios , meet specific objectives , and solve detrimental challenges that the business maybe facing .
Each type of business analytics provides a different kind of insight and choosing what to employ depends on the past , current and future business environment .
For example , descriptive analytics is widely used in the interpretation of historical data to discover trends and patterns , while predictive analytics common usage is in statistics to predict future outcomes . Prescriptive analytics on the other hand is the application of testing and other techniques to establish what outcome will produce the best result in a particular scenario .
As a channel partner with expertise in any of the three types of analytics , you should recommend the type that ’ s best based on your client ’ s business intentions and the challenges they seek to address . Understanding and mapping out specific business scenarios is useful in determining the kind of analytics that the client needs . I
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