Data & analytics

Business decisions can be daunting; risk is a factor, stakes can be high, and analysis may integrate both quantitative and intangible dimensions. In the pursuit of more and better data, decision-makers should not neglect another essential element of the process: the evaluation of all possible outcomes.

Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne and the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr discuss how new tools in data science, AI, machine learning and harnessing the wisdom of the crowd have revolutionized how people and organizations plan.

TV ads? Pay-per-click? Organic search? Fine-grained data about consumer interactions with brands is helpful if marketers know how to identify the value of the channels used and see their contributions to customer acquisition and retention. Developing an attribution model is a gradual process; here are four key stages in the journey.

With the help of a predictive machine-learning algorithm, Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne offers new hope for beleaguered airport passengers changing planes. Implemented at Heathrow Airport, the system is a game changer for management, demonstrating how industries can use data to save millions in costly overstaffing and dissatisfied customers.

Darden experts offer some examples of varied workplace functions on which data analytics can have massive impact. It serves, drives and can lead to wild (though methodically so) success in multiple and varied areas of an organization. 

In an AI-powered economy, characterized by sweeping technological advancements and fast-changing customer preferences, brands face a complex challenge. To survive, they need to build AI and machine learning into their marketing toolkits. Professor Rajkumar Venkatesan’s AI Marketing Canvas can help guide them through that that process.

It’s natural to focus on project completion and work that shows well internally. But high-performing innovation teams need to look beyond vanity metrics and ask the hard questions that spur significant improvement. Here’s how to focus on what matters, define and prioritize customer outcomes, and obtain analytical clarity and actionability.

One pressing concern for pharmaceutical companies is how to effectively allocate scarce resources across projects in R&D pipelines. Professor Panos Markou shares insights on how competitors’ investments in drugs that treat the same disorder may reveal potentially useful information, which senior executives can use to improve chances of success.

With the 2020 presidential election season in full swing, Facebook faces a big test. Will the social media giant repeat the mistakes of 2016, when Russian propagandists used the site to target American voters, and Cambridge Analytica, a political firm with ties to the Trump campaign, obtained millions of users’ data without their knowledge?

The financial statements and supporting disclosures required of public companies have the reputation for being dense, impenetrable documents. But when you reach the point you can “read” the story behind the numbers, you can understand a company’s strategy and its trajectory — not only where it has been, but, potentially, where it is headed.