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BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

If knowledge is power, then predictive

analytics promises the ultimate knowledge

Jeanne Harris and Marc Mc Donald impressed me with on a greater diversity of inputs”, they explain.
their top-notch article in the Harvard Business Review Hence, the most forward-thinking companies are
Insight Center Report “Predictive Analytics in Practice”, those developing new business models to create
that immediately starts with the statement: “If knowledge value from information exchanges.
is power, then predictive analytics promises the ultimate
knowledge—that of the future – which is within reach”. 2. Develop open multiple multi-sided
relationships: “The availability and veracity of the
The duo then shared the three main attitudes that data involved in the predictive future requires
differentiate forward-looking organizations from the rest, creating multiple multi-sided relationships with
which are the following: customers, suppliers, trading partners, and just
about anyone else with potentially beneficial
1. Look to the outside: By using analytics, information”, Harris and McDonald believe, since
organizations have deployed bigger data sets, increasing predictive power rests in positioning
cheaper cloud computing power, and more yourself at the center of multiple information flows.
aggressive algorithms to successfully standardize They elaborate: “Current information-based
previously non-standard processes, such as sales services, such as Bloomberg, involve an
and service, making them more repeatable, information provider selling a single set of
predictable, and amenable to analytics, Harris and information with segmented services to multiple
McDonald state. To apply analytics to the future, customers. Such models play a part in the
though, self-knowledge would be insufficient, predictive future, but the industrial Internet and
because “the information most likely to influence the expanded communications capabilities change the
future comes from looking out the window, not into nature of information products. From one product
the mirror. Sheer computing power isn’t the key distributed to many customers, the move is
differentiator either, because the predictive future underway toward products that feed information
relies less on additional statistical mastication than from many sources to a single party, which

14 August 2018 - Predictive Algorithms & Native Ads