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Predictive Analytics holds the promise of our business future.  Abraham Lincoln once said: “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” And though some have credited computer scientist Alan Kay with the quote: “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” before him, Hungarian physicist Dennis Gabor wrote in Inventing the Future (1963): "The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented."  Either way you phrase it; we’re in for a fascinating ride – humanity has built its future by inventing it.


So, for those of us looking to predict where predictive analytics will be heading this year in business, survey and study data foresees important applications in the functions of Sales, Marketing, Finance, manufacturing, and more.

Here are some recent articles which can help us to predict where Predictive Analytics is going in 2014:

1.       The Future is Predictive Analytics – Don’t Get Left Behind

SAP’s James Fisher says sophisticated predictive analysis is moving fast from a small population of specialists to a broad spectrum of users and will become ever more valuable across business as a whole.

“Technology also needs to be more intuitive in order to be used at all levels of the business. If businesses are able to realize the potential that predictive analytics offers, and actually make the most of all the data they collect, the future of the business will bring innovation, opportunity and ultimately growth.” Read more.

2.       Loudhouse: The “Intuitive” Technology  Attitudes and Experiences Report

It’s no revelation to learn that organizations are using historical information to exploit business growth opportunities.  This Loudhouse study found that “with 90% of all of the world’s data having been generated in the last two years, organizations are feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the data challenge that they face. As data has proliferated, so technology vendors have responded by creating more advanced solutions to help organizations make sense of this data and use it to drive their business decisions. The field of predictive analytics holds great promise in helping organizations navigate an ever-changing business and customer landscape.” Valuable primary research found here.

3.       Several Steps to Master Predictive Analytics in 2014

Is a Chief Data Officer in your future?  Ben Kershberg thinks so – and there is McKinsey data to back it up in: Mobilizing Your C-Suite For Big Data Analytics (McKinsey & Company 2013).  Citing Barron’s in this article,  plus studies from both the World Economic Forum (2013) and National Academy of Science (2013), Kerschberg assures us that “The power of the cloud allows for the extraordinary processing power made possible by distributed computing. Now, statistical inferences can turn data into actionable intelligence that supports reasoned decisions. Moreover, companies can scale as they wish and absorb only the marginal costs of their expansion.” Read more.


4.       Cloud Predictive Analytics Most Used To Gain Customer Insight 

In Louis Columbus’ piece in Forbes, we walk through a Decision Management Solutions’ survey on cloud predictive analytics.   Industries with the most impact from Predictive Analytics are: Retail, Financial Services, and hardware and software. Drilling in on the customer analytics topic in the use of predictive, the areas of high impact are “customer satisfaction, customer profitability, customer retention/churn, customer management, and upsell/cross-sell.”   Read more.

So there you have it – insightful studies, survey data and research around where Predictive Analytics is heading this year and beyond.  And for those of you who think predicting the future of predictive analytics is simple; I have another quote for you: “If you’re so smart how come you’re not rich?”

Without being able to guarantee that we’ll all be richer – predictive analytics may very well make us all a bit smarter in 2014.