Inside Story

Spring 2008

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Welcome to Analytics

We hope you enjoy the premiere issue of Analytics. You are receiving this e-magazine as part of your relationship with one or more of our sponsors. If you would like to continue receiving Analytics on a quarterly basis, please register (http://analytics.informs.org). Analytics is brought to you by INFORMS (www.informs.org) – the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. INFORMS is the largest membership society in the world dedicated to the analytics profession. The society publishes 12 scholarly journals and a membership magazine, organizes national and international conferences, bestows awards and prizes, and arranges for communication and networking among analytics professionals.

Peruse the initial issue of Analytics and tell us what you think.You can provide feedback at http://analytics.informs.org. This digital format allows you to easily page through the magazine, share it with colleagues and click on links to gather additional information. Enjoy the premiere issue with our compliments.

— Gary Bennett, Director of Marketing, INFORMS

Data-Driven Decision-Making

In the good old days, many “savvy” corporate CEOs and other assorted head honchos in the public and private sector routinely made critical decisions by the seat of their pants. They relied on their experience, their intuition and their “gut” to determine a course of action that could make or break the organization. Sometimes they were right, sometimes they were wrong, and sometimes the organization went down the drain.

Today, more and more of these C-level decision-makers are turning to analytics for help in the decision-making process. The stakes are just too high and the competition is just too fierce to rely on your “gut.” Instead of shouting, “show me the money,” savvy CEOs are now shouting,“show me the data and the mathematical analysis first . . . and then I’ll show our shareholders the money.”

The trend toward data-based decision-making is being driven, of course, by astronomical increases in data, mathematical modeling capabilities and computing power. Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris crystallized this phenomenon in their recent book, “Competing on Analytics: The New Science ofWinning” (2007,Harvard Business School Press). Davenport and Harris define analytics as “the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions.”That encompasses the work of hundreds of thousands if not millions of “analysts” of all stripes around the world.

Which brings us to the online publication you now have opened on your computer. Analytics is designed to inform, enlighten, inspire and, yes, even entertain analysts everywhere while bringing them together in an electronic sense to share successes, failures and lessons learned. Analytics will also strive to promote the analytical profession and the people who preach and practice it.

Most of the articles in this debut issue were drawn from OR/MS Today (www.lionhrtpub.com/ORMS.shtml), the magazine of membership of INFORMS, so when you see terms like “operations research”(O.R.), think analytics. Although INFORMS officially promotes the “operations research” and “management science” professions, its members represent a galaxy of job titles, scientific fields, technical methodologies and special interest groups.

We could have easily filled this premier issue with supply chain stories from the manufacturing sector or articles on revenue management and crew scheduling from the aviation industry. Instead,we decided to publish a collection of articles that showcase the power and diversity of analytics, from preventing potential terrorist attacks to improving patient care. The problems you encounter and the methodologies and job titles you use may be different, but you now have one thing in common: Analytics.

— Peter Horner, Editor