The Analytics Process: Strategic and Tactical Steps

This book is about the process of using analytics and the capabilities of analytics in today’s organizations. Cutting through the buzz surrounding the term analytics and the overloaded expectations about using analytics, the book demystifies analytics with an in-depth examination of concepts grounded in operations research and management science.

Analytics as a set of tools and processes is only as effective as:

• The data with which it is working
• The human judgment applying the processes and understanding the output of these processes.

For this reason, the book focuses on the analytics process. What is intrinsic to analytics’ real organizational impact are the careful application of tools and the thoughtful application of their outcomes. This work emphasizes analytics as part of a process that supports decision-making within organizations. It wants to debunk overblown expectations that somehow analytics outputs or analytics as applied to other concepts, such as Big Data, are the be-all and end-all of the analytics process. They are, instead, only a step within a holistic and critical approach to management thinking that can create real value for an organization.

To develop this holistic approach, the book is divided into two sections that examine concepts and applications. The first section makes the case for executive management taking a holistic approach to analytics. It draws on rich research in operations and management science that form the context in which analytics tools are to be applied. There is a strong emphasis on knowledge management concepts and techniques, as well as risk management concepts and techniques. The second section focuses on both the use of the analytics process and organizational issues that are required to make the analytics process relevant and impactful.

Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez is the Sentry Endowed Chair on Business Analytics University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Analytics Adjunct Professor at Telfer School of Management at Ottawa University, Corporate Faculty of the MSc in Analytics at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology Pennsylvania USA, Senior Associate-Faculty of the Center for Dynamic Leadership Models in Global Business at The Leadership Alliance Inc. Toronto Canada, and Principal at IQAnalytics Inc. Research Centre and Consulting Firm in Ottawa Canada. He has extensive experience in analytics, knowledge and risk management mainly in the insurance and banking industry. He has been Visiting Scholar Chongqing University China, Strategic Risk Instructor SAS Institute, and EAFIT University Master of Risk Management.

Dr. Rodriguez has been Knowledge Management Advisor and Quantitative Analyst at EDC Export Development Canada in Ottawa, Regional Director of PRMIA (Professional Risk Managers International Association) in Ottawa, Vice-President Marketing and Planning for Insurance Companies and Banks in Colombia, professor at Andes University and CESA in Colombia, author of six books in analytics, reviewer of several journals and with publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Currently, he is the Chair of the permanent Think-Tank in Analytics in Ottawa, Chair of the International Conference in Analytics ICAS, member of academic committees for conferences in Knowledge Management and international lecturer in the analytics field.

He holds a PhD from Aston Business School, Aston University in the UK, a MSc. Mathematics Concordia University Montreal Canada, Certification of the Advanced Management Program McGill University Canada, and an MBA and Bachelor in Mathematics from Los Andes University Colombia. His main research interest is in the field of Analytics and Knowledge Management applied to Enterprise Risk Management.