Business Analytics for Managers - (Wiley and SAS Business) 2nd Edition by Gert H N Laursen & Jesper Thorlund (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Business Analytics for Managers offers real-world guidance for organizations looking to leverage their data into a competitive advantage. This new second edition covers the advances that have revolutionized the field since the first edition's release; big data and real-time digitalized decision making have become major components of any analytics strategy, and new technologies are allowing businesses to gain even more insight from the ever-increasing influx of data. New terms, theories, and technologies are explained and discussed in terms of practical benefit, and the emphasis on forward thinking over historical data describes how analytics can drive better business planning. Coverage includes data warehousing, big data, social media, security, cloud technologies, and future trends, with expert insight on the practical aspects of the current state of the field.

Analytics helps businesses move forward. Extensive use of statistical and quantitative analysis alongside explanatory and predictive modeling facilitates fact-based decision making, and evolving technologies continue to streamline every step of the process. This book provides an essential update, and describes how today's tools make business analytics more valuable than ever.

• Learn how Hadoop can upgrade your data processing and storage
• Discover the many uses for social media data in analysis and communication
• Get up to speed on the latest in cloud technologies, data security, and more
• Prepare for emerging technologies and the future of business analytics

Most businesses are caught in a massive, non-stop stream of data. It can become one of your most valuable assets, or a never-ending flood of missed opportunity. Technology moves fast, and keeping up with the cutting edge is crucial for wringing even more value from your data--Business Analytics for Managers brings you up to date, and shows you what analytics can do for you now.

From the Back Cover

Big data. Cloud technology. Hadoop. These are all game-changing advances in technology with disruptive potential if a company has the business analytics (BA) systems to maximize their potential. What are you doing with your data? How are your people prepared to make better decisions using it? Business Analytics for Managers brings you up to speed on the latest advances and applications of a dependable framework for using information generated around the clock in business to skyrocket corporate performance.

This Second Edition updates its widely successful approach to getting timely decision support to the right people and expands it to also include the right digital processes. Tremendous advances in technology have allowed BA to make inroads into automated and digitalized processes, omni-channel marketing, and even predictive automation and robotic workers. Failure to create or update a BA architecture in a company today means the difference between treading water and getting ahead. The easy-to-use framework inside enables you to align an organization's overall strategy with the most insightful data for data-based decision-making--then it gives you a superior competitive advantage by opening the door to highly personalized and predictive applications, including optimizing individual human behavior. Brilliantly organized to be read cover to cover for a full primer and setup of a new business analytics system and then kept as an authoritative reference, this is a must-have for everyone in a business-focused role who wants to establish or contribute to BA. It provides:

• A versatile business analytics model featuring a single common frame of reference for goals and ways of reaching them
• A seamless approach to integrating data into a company's value chain with maximum benefit
• Practical strategies for accurately assessing and prioritizing business analytics projects

Use your BA to step out of the present and operate in the future with the powerful framework and skillset in Business Analytics for Managers, Second Edition.

About the Author

GERT H. N. LAURSEN is a business consultant who builds analytical organizations around the world. He also builds disruptive business strategies for global market leaders and humanitarian organizations. He has an MBA in digital strategy, a master's degree in marketing, and was named a global thought leader by IBM and SAS Institute.

JESPER THORLUND is a business intelligence consultant and frequent speaker on business intelligence, business analytics, and microeconomics throughout Europe.