Can predictive analytics be used to forecast which movie will walk away with the top honor at the Academy Awards? Apparently not. While predictive analytics is useful to forecast future trends, behaviors and patterns- Oscar winners are not one of them. Often times it is used to lower risks, improve software or anticipate customer behavior. Combined with machine learning and algorithms, predictive analytics incorporate past and current data to provide the most logical conclusion.

Is your company a data company? Whether you actually sell software that monitors data or run a brick and mortar store, the answer is yes. Monetizing data a business already collects can significantly increase a company’s revenue.  Gartner defines Data Monetization as “using data for quantifiable economic benefit.”  Whether that entails selling your findings to third party sources or using this intelligence to create a more efficient product is up to the organization itself.

According to the Harvard Business Review, every company needs a Growth Manager. A growth manager’s job combines data analysis, marketing, and product development to ensure that company is deploying products and campaigns that yield profitable results. It is the growth manager’s job to interpret these results and advise their peers on the successes and failures of a particular campaign in hopes to increase revenue.