Fall is conference season so it’s time for some hard choices — too many events in too many places. I’m sorry to have missed Predictive Analytics World in Washington DC (Oct 20). The conference has a British/European edition in London in November, then in San Francisco next March. This program for analytics professionals, managers and consultants offers some deep-dive case studies. Some of the Tweets and observations – both from the panelists, speakers and audience – offer some useful glimpses into the future of business intelligence and data analytics. More than just marketing and customer research, Predictive Analytics World delivers vender-neutral sessions across verticals such as banking, financial services, e-commerce, entertainment, government, healthcare, high technology, insurance, non-profits and retail. Using data to forecast and spot patterns and better inform your decision-making is just one aspect of forward-leaning business using BI.
Keynoter Usama Fayyad, CEO at Open Insights LLC , says the future of predictive analytics hasn’t been overheated but perhaps UNDER-estimated. His comments from the Oct 20 program included these nuggets: Most data stored in databases goes unused, making databases like the pyramids: beautiful, but in the end, just tombs.
With the barriers to reaching huge audiences lower than ever, the role of social media dilutes the role of “influencer” and makes people question the advice, expertise or reviews found online, says Fayyad, a data mining and pricing guru and former Chief Data Officer at Yahoo! All the more reason to have a trusted advisor or first-hand experience.
And the prospects look bright for data analytics and ‘cloud-based’ services that enable mobile or on-the-go insights. Now, how can we predict whether YOU will attend one of these upcoming events? In the meantime you can always search the hashtag #pawcon on Twitter from the comfort of your corner office.
David Wallace
Spotfire Blogging Team
Image Credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art
