It's All Analytics - Part II

"I started to count the assertions in this book with which I wholeheartedly agree, and there were so many I ran out of patience. Analytics are at the core of data science and AI and establishing an integrated support organization for them makes perfect sense. So do the people and process-related steps the authors recommend. Buy and read this book and do what it says to do. You have nothing to lose but your organization’s bad decisions!"

Thomas H. Davenport
Distinguished Professor, Babson College
Visiting Professor, Oxford Saïd Business School
Research Fellow, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
Author of Competing on Analytics and The AI Advantage

"It’s All Analytics – Part I provides a rich context on AI, data science, analytics, Part II takes it to the next level and shows how to transform smart solutions to tremendous value for the business, and more importantly, how to do it in the right way.

As authors pointed out, a large percentage of corporate analytics efforts failed. This is not due to short of analytics talent, or lack of technology investment. The success requires a lot more – people and process, senior leadership commitment, re-organization, culture of innovation, to name a few.

I am thrilled that Scott, David, and Gary continue to share their years of experience in Part II, and truly believe that it could not only help business executives save hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, but also achieve billions of dollars of value to the business and shareholders.

It’s All Analytics – Part II continues to be a fun read with many practical examples and thought exercises and explains complex concepts in simple language. It’s an incredible piece of work. If any business has the ambition to be smarter and stronger in the digital era, this is a must read for all its executives."

Xingchu Liu, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Data & Analytics
Macy's

"I found the secret sauce in Scott Burk's new book It's All Analytics. I have found that every business stakeholder with whom I have engaged intrinsically understands the decisions that they need to make; they make them every day or every week. They also intrinsically understand the value of those decisions and - with a little help - can quickly attribute value to improving the effectiveness of those decisions.

Chapter 2 ‘The Anatomy of a Business Decision’ does a marvelous job of articulating the importance of not only identifying and understanding the value of those key decisions, but also highlights how those key decisions provide a natural linkage between the business and data science teams. Powerful concept in its simplicity."

Bill Schmarzo
Author, Professor, Data Monetization Consultant, and
Dean of Big Data

"Analytics, whether it be in the form of data science, business intelligence, machine learning, or any other new and exciting application that's under development, is transforming the world at a speed unprecedented in human history. Most businesses know this, and understand that embracing this change is not just a competitive advantage, but a requirement to remain competitive. However, many businesses don't know how to do this, and make the mistake of thinking that if they hire some data scientists and buy some data tools that this will solve their problem. This is a recipe for failure, and potentially quite expensive failure. Data scientists and data tools are components of implementing change in how a business works, and without an understanding of these changes and a plan for how they will be implemented, the data scientists and data tools will do no good.

While there are many books and resources on both the concepts and the tools for data science, there aren't many books on how to make them work within a business. This book by Burk, Sweenor, and Miner fills this critical gap. Here, they walk through what organizations need to do, yesterday, to transition into an analytics first business, in terms of organizational, data, and analytics technology design. If you're in a business that wants to start this transition, or is struggling to make it happen, then you need to read this book and follow what it says. It's no exaggeration to say the future of your business depends on it."

Dylan Zwick, Ph.D.
Former Director of Data Science
Overstock.com

"There are a great many books that have been written about Analytics that focus on the technical side of the equation. We are now seeing more books that are focusing on the organizational and process side of the Analytics environment. And we are seeing more and more books written about how Analytics Teams should be organized and managed. All of these areas of focus are warranted and are helping practitioners, students, academics, researchers and others who are interested in the field to gain a more holistic view of how the Analytics field is rapidly evolving, growing and changing.

This new book is a unique combination of data, process, technology, organizational approaches and more. If you are seeking an overview of what you need to know about data and analytics, this book is a great place to start. I speak with a number of people who want to find a way to join the field, either as students about to leave university and begin their careers, or people who want to make a change in their career paths or those that have left the workforce and are now ready to rejoin the day to day working world. For all of those people with all those varied viewpoints and perspectives, this book is a good place to start your journey."

John Thompson
Global Head, Advanced Analytics and AI
CSL Behring

"This book on the Its All Analytics - Part 2 is particularly appropriate at this time. We stand at the juncture of a new revolution in business – Rise of the Business Ecosystem driven by analytics. The biggest challenge we face getting there is not technical but organizational. This book defines the pathway to get there."

Robert Nisbet, Ph.D.
Consulting Data Miner
Goleta (Santa Barbara), California