You receive an e-mail. It contains an offer for a complete personal computer system. It seems like the retailer read your mind since you were exploring computers on their web site just a few hours prior.... As you drive to the store to buy the computer bundle, you get an offer for a discounted coffee from the coffee shop you are getting ready to drive past. It says that since you’re in the area, you can get 10% off if you stop by in the next 20 minutes.... As you drink your coffee, you receive an apology from the manufacturer of a product that you complained about yesterday on your Facebook page, as well as on the company’s web site.... Finally, once you get back home, you receive notice of a special armor upgrade available for purchase in your favorite online video game. It is just what is needed to get past some spots you’ve been struggling with.... Sound crazy? Are these things that can only happen in the distant future? No. All of these scenarios are possible today! Big data. Advanced analytics. Big data analytics. It seems you can’t escape such terms today. Everywhere you turn people are discussing, writing about, and promoting big data and advanced analytics. Well, you can now add this book to the discussion. What is real and what is hype? Such attention can lead one to the suspicion that perhaps the analysis of big data is something that is more hype than substance. While there has been a lot of hype over the past few years, the reality is that we are in a transformative era in terms of analytic capabilities and the leveraging of massive amounts of data. If you take the time to cut through the sometimes-over-zealous hype present in the media, you’ll find something very real and very powerful underneath it. With big data, the hype is driven by genuine excitement and anticipation of the business and consumer benefits that analyzing it will yield over time. Big data is the next wave of new data sources that will drive the next wave of analytic innovation in business, government, and academia. These innovations have the potential to radically change how organizations view their business. The analysis that big data enables will lead to decisions that are more informed and, in some cases, different from what they are today. It will yield insights that many can only dream about today. As you’ll see, there are many consistencies with the requirements to tame big data and what has always been needed to tame new data sources. However, the additional scale of big data necessitates utilizing the newest tools, technologies, methods, and processes. The old way of approaching analysis just won’t work. It is time to evolve the world of advanced analytics to the next level. That’s what this book is about. Taming the Big Data Tidal Wave isn’t just the title of this book, but rather an activity that will determine which businesses win and which lose in the next decade. By preparing and taking the initiative, organizations can ride the big data tidal wave to success rather than being pummeled underneath the crushing surf. What do you need to know and how do you prepare in order to start taming big data and generating exciting new analytics from it? Sit back, get comfortable, and prepare to find out!

You receive an e-mail. It contains an offer for a complete personal computer system. It seems like the retailer read your mind since you were exploring computers on their web site just a few hours prior…. As you drive to the store to buy the computer bundle, you get an offer for a discounted coffee from the coffee shop you are getting ready to drive past. It says that since you’re in the area, you can get 10% off if you stop by in the next 20 minutes…. As you drink your coffee, you receive an apology from the manufacturer of a product that you complained about yesterday on your Facebook page, as well as on the company’s web site…. Finally, once you get back home, you receive notice of a special armor upgrade available for purchase in your favorite online video game. It is just what is needed to get past some spots you’ve been struggling with…. Sound crazy? Are these things that can only happen in the distant future? No. All of these scenarios are possible today! Big data. Advanced analytics. Big data analytics. It seems you can’t escape such terms today. Everywhere you turn people are discussing, writing about, and promoting big data and advanced analytics. Well, you can now add this book to the discussion. What is real and what is hype? Such attention can lead one to the suspicion that perhaps the analysis of big data is something that is more hype than substance. While there has been a lot of hype over the past few years, the reality is that we are in a transformative era in terms of analytic capabilities and the leveraging of massive amounts of data. If you take the time to cut through the sometimes-over-zealous hype present in the media, you’ll find something very real and very powerful underneath it. With big data, the hype is driven by genuine excitement and anticipation of the business and consumer benefits that analyzing it will yield over time. Big data is the next wave of new data sources that will drive the next wave of analytic innovation in business, government, and academia. These innovations have the potential to radically change how organizations view their business. The analysis that big data enables will lead to decisions that are more informed and, in some cases, different from what they are today. It will yield insights that many can only dream about today. As you’ll see, there are many consistencies with the requirements to tame big data and what has always been needed to tame new data sources. However, the additional scale of big data necessitates utilizing the newest tools, technologies, methods, and processes. The old way of approaching analysis just won’t work. It is time to evolve the world of advanced analytics to the next level. That’s what this book is about. Taming the Big Data Tidal Wave isn’t just the title of this book, but rather an activity that will determine which businesses win and which lose in the next decade. By preparing and taking the initiative, organizations can ride the big data tidal wave to success rather than being pummeled underneath the crushing surf. What do you need to know and how do you prepare in order to start taming big data and generating exciting new analytics from it? Sit back, get comfortable, and prepare to find out!

Unique insights to implement big data analytics and reap big returns to your bottom line Focusing on the business and financial value of big data analytics, respected technology journalist Frank J. Ohlhorst shares his insights on the newly emerging field of big data analytics in Big Data Analytics. This breakthrough book demonstrates the importance of analytics, defines the processes, highlights the tangible and intangible values and discusses how you can turn a business liability into actionable material that can be used to redefine markets, improve profits and identify new business opportunities. Reveals big data analytics as the next wave for businesses looking for competitive advantage Takes an in-depth look at the financial value of big data analytics Offers tools and best practices for working with big data Once the domain of large on-line retailers such as eBay and Amazon, big data is now accessible by businesses of all sizes and across industries. From how to mine the data your company collects, to the data that is available on the outside, Big Data Analytics shows how you can leverage big data into a key component in your business's growth strategy.

Lead your organization into the industrial revolution of analytics with The Analytics Revolution The topics of big data and analytics continue to be among the most discussed and pursued in the business world today. While a decade ago many people still questioned whether or not data and analytics would help improve their businesses, today virtually no one questions the value that analytics brings to the table. The Analytics Revolution focuses on how this evolution has come to pass and explores the next wave of evolution that is underway. Making analytics operational involves automating and embedding analytics directly into business processes and allowing the analytics to prescribe and make decisions. It is already occurring all around us whether we know it or not. The Analytics Revolution delves into the requirements for laying a solid technical and organizational foundation that is capable of supporting operational analytics at scale, and covers factors to consider if an organization is to succeed in making analytics operational. Along the way, you'll learn how changes in technology and the business environment have led to the necessity of both incorporating big data into analytic processes and making them operational. The book cuts straight through the considerable marketplace hype and focuses on what is really important. The book includes: An overview of what operational analytics are and what trends lead us to them Tips on structuring technology infrastructure and analytics organizations to succeed A discussion of how to change corporate culture to enable both faster discovery of important new analytics and quicker implementation cycles of what is discovered Guidance on how to justify, implement, and govern operational analytics The Analytics Revolution gives you everything you need to implement operational analytic processes with big data.

This invaluable resource examines the forces behind the explosive growth in data and reveals how the most innovative companies are responding to this challenge. The Internet used to be a tool for telling your customers about your business. Now, it’s real value lies in what it tells you about them. Every move your customers make online can be tracked, catalogued, and analyzed to better understand their preferences and predict their future behavior. With mobile technology like smartphones, customers are online almost every second of every day. The companies that succeed going forward will be those that learn to leverage this torrent of information-without being drowned by it. Data Crush clarifies the key drivers in this emergence, such as: the proliferation of "big data" generated by a never-ending range of online activities (and the mobility that enables much of it); the seemingly infinite array of digital commerce and entertainment pathways; and the rising growth of Cloud computing. These and other factors combine to create an overwhelming universe of valuable information - all constantly updated in real time with billions of mouse clicks each day. It's daunting, but with this onslaught of information comes tremendous opportunity - and Data Crush will help you make sense of it all.

The guide to targeting and leveraging business opportunities using big data & analytics By leveraging big data & analytics, businesses create the potential to better understand, manage, and strategically exploiting the complex dynamics of customer behavior. Analytics in a Big Data World reveals how to tap into the powerful tool of data analytics to create a strategic advantage and identify new business opportunities. Designed to be an accessible resource, this essential book does not include exhaustive coverage of all analytical techniques, instead focusing on analytics techniques that really provide added value in business environments. The book draws on author Bart Baesens' expertise on the topics of big data, analytics and its applications in e.g. credit risk, marketing, and fraud to provide a clear roadmap for organizations that want to use data analytics to their advantage, but need a good starting point. Baesens has conducted extensive research on big data, analytics, customer relationship management, web analytics, fraud detection, and credit risk management, and uses this experience to bring clarity to a complex topic. Includes numerous case studies on risk management, fraud detection, customer relationship management, and web analytics Offers the results of research and the author's personal experience in banking, retail, and government Contains an overview of the visionary ideas and current developments on the strategic use of analytics for business Covers the topic of data analytics in easy-to-understand terms without an undo emphasis on mathematics and the minutiae of statistical analysis For organizations looking to enhance their capabilities via data analytics, this resource is the go-to reference for leveraging data to enhance business capabilities.

Convert the promise of big data into real world results There is so much buzz around big data. We all need to know what it is and how it works - that much is obvious. But is a basic understanding of the theory enough to hold your own in strategy meetings? Probably. But what will set you apart from the rest is actually knowing how to USE big data to get solid, real-world business results - and putting that in place to improve performance. Big Data will give you a clear understanding, blueprint, and step-by-step approach to building your own big data strategy. This is a well-needed practical introduction to actually putting the topic into practice. Illustrated with numerous real-world examples from a cross section of companies and organisations, Big Data will take you through the five steps of the SMART model: Start with Strategy, Measure Metrics and Data, Apply Analytics, Report Results, Transform. Discusses how companies need to clearly define what it is they need to know Outlines how companies can collect relevant data and measure the metrics that will help them answer their most important business questions Addresses how the results of big data analytics can be visualised and communicated to ensure key decisions-makers understand them Includes many high-profile case studies from the author's work with some of the world's best known brands