Analytics in Business , Marketing

Though not among the toppers, I was an above average student right from my school days. It would sound a little cliché’ – I fell short of few marks to secure a free seat in some of the renowned Engineering colleges. I didn’t get the grapes hence obviously they were sour – a thought was lingering in my mind, there are so many Engineers in the social strata I come from; in fact if I pick up a stone and throw in a crowd I am 95% confident that it will hit an Engineer. Well, the next question in my mind was - aren’t there any other choices? I had aptitude for Mathematics and Statistics sounded similar then… I thought of exploring further. I spoke to one of the professors of a local college.

He asked me a simple question – Do you eat Mangoes? Well, I said “yes”. The next question was – Do you eat Mangoes in winter? I denied. Then he asked what the reason was. I said “Because we don’t get mangoes in winter”. He further asked “Would you like to have mangoes in winter as well? I promptly said “yes, of course”. Then he explained that might be waste if the farmers preserve and stack up mangoes without knowing the actual demand. To know the actual demand will I go to the 1 billion people and ask them if they want to cherish Mangoes even in the winter? The answer obviously was “no”. He then mentioned that there is a statistical method called sampling that will serve the purpose here. By circulating a well defined questionnaire one can get an idea on the demand. Statistics can be further used to analyze the quantities that need to be stacked, the consumer behavior, forecasting for the next year to decide the quantity of produce to meet next year’s demand. This was my first introduction to the expanse field of Analytics.

Find below some information that I gathered on the Net.

Analytics is a science of analysis that helps drive optimal decision making. Analytics closely resembles statistical analysis and data mining. Some of the disciplines under Analytics are Business Analytics, Marketing Analytics, Econometrics, Clinical Research, Actuarial Science, Customer Relationship Management, and Psychometrics…

Analytics may be used as input for human decisions or may drive fully automated decisions.

Business analytics refers to the skills, technologies, applications and practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning.

Marketing Analytics is the science of analyzing the customer data covering marketing research, marketing strategy, and marketing plans. The objective of a marketing analysis is to identify the general interest of the buying public and understand the growing changes and public threats of the company as they relate to the strong and weak points of the business in the industry.
Econometrics is a branch of economics that applies statistical methods to the empirical study of economic theories and relationships.
Clinical research is a branch of medical science that determines the safety and effectiveness of medications, devices, diagnostic products, and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatment, diagnosis or for relief of symptoms in a disease. Studies performed in humans that are intended to increase knowledge about how well a diagnostic test or treatment works in a particular patient population.
Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries.
Psychometrics is the theory and technique of educational and psychological measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits.

By Mukta Phadnis-Joshi