Delivering Business Analytics: Practical Guidelines for Best Practice

370 Pages·2013·1.18 MB·English

by  Evan Stubbs

Delivering Business
Analytics
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Delivering Business
Analytics
Practical Guidelines for Best Practice
Evan Stubbs
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Coverimage:ªPavelKhorenyan/iStockphoto
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData:
Stubbs,Evan.
Deliveringbusinessanalytics:practicalguidelinesforbestpractice/
EvanStubbs.
p. cm.—(Wiley&SASbusinessseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-118-37056-8(cloth);ISBN978-1-118-55954-3(ebk);
ISBN978-1-118-55945-1(ebk);ISBN978-1-118-55944-4(ebk)
1. Businessplanning. 2. Strategicplanning. 3. Decision
making. I. Title.
HD30.28.S785 2013
658.4'013—dc23
2012041500
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the dreamers, the innovators, the visionaries,
and those who know things could be
better—this book’s for you.

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xix
Part One Business Analytics Best Practices..............................1
Chapter 1 Business Analytics: A Definition 5
What Is Business Analytics? 5
Core Concepts and Definitions 7
Chapter 2 The Competitive Advantage of
Business Analytics 11
Advantages of Business Analytics 14
Challenges of Business Analytics 23
Establishing Best Practices 27
Part Two The Data Scientist’s Code........................................29
Chapter 3 Designing the Approach 31
Think about Competencies, Not Functions 31
Drive Outcomes, Not Insight 36
Automate Everything Non-Value-Added 38
Start Flexible, Become Structured 40
Eliminate Bottlenecks 43
Chapter 4 Creating Assets 47
Design Your Platform for Use, Not Purity 47
Always Have a Plan B 52
vii
viii ⁄CONTENTS
Know What You Are Worth 54
Own Your Intellectual Property 57
Minimize Custom Development 60
Chapter 5 Managing Information and Making Decisions 65
Understand Your Data 65
It’s Better to Have Too Much Data Than Too Little 69
Keep Things Simple 74
Function Should Dictate Form 77
Watch the Dynamic, Not Just the Static 79
Part Three Practical Solutions: People and Process...............85
Chapter 6 Driving Operational Outcomes 87
Augmenting Operational Systems 88
Breaking Bottlenecks 98
Optimizing Monitoring Processes 106
Encouraging Innovation 113
Chapter 7 Analytical Process Management 127
Coping with Information Overload 128
Keeping Everyone Aligned 137
Allocating Responsibilities 144
Opening the Platform 151
Part Four Practical Solutions: Systems and Assets..............159
Chapter 8 Computational Architectures 161
Moving Beyond the Spreadsheet 162
Scaling Past the PC 173
Staying Mobile and Connected 180
Smoothing Growth with the Cloud 183