CHAPTER 1Prologue
Building, integrating, and leading effective analytics teams is a business imperative. The organizations that are most successful overall are those that effectively leverage their analytics capabilities to build a sustainable competitive advantage. However, many organizations are simply not getting the return that they expected on their investments in analytics.
Does hiring an engineer cause the surrounding buildings to be more robust? Could hiring five engineers make those buildings even more robust? Would hiring a pharmacist make you healthier? Would hiring an actuary increase your longevity?
In the last 20 years, the once sleepy academic fields of statistics, operations research, and decision support have exploded and been rebranded using terms such as data science, artificial intelligence, big data, and advanced analytics, among others. These practices have matured, and they have entered the mainstream. Advanced analytics and AI have moved from being an investment in the future to a core component of corporate strategy and a key enabler for all areas of the business. Regardless of their size or the industry or sector in which they are used, these technologies are becoming an organizational necessity throughout the world. Organizations use advanced analytics and AI to develop new products, ...
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