Breakthroughs in Analytics

I just discovered three interesting e-commerce Times articles on business analytics. A good overview of the state of the industry and its importance to the enterprise. See part 1, part 2 and part 3.

" ... IDC's definition of business analytics software comprises performance management applications and data warehouse platform software -- specifically, "solutions used to access, transform, store, analyze, model, deliver and track information to enable fact-based decision-making." The median return on investment for companies that implement a data analytics program is 112 percent, according to one IDC study ... "

I have been a practitioner in this realm for a long time. The field has seen some important changes in recent years that allow for less expertise to be necessary to 'solve' tougher problems. You can also try more things faster, and understand many results visually. Still it is dangerous to assume that there are no underlying bad assumptions that can foul up your model.