Top 4 big data articles of 2015

big dataFronetics Strategic Advisors is a leading management consulting firm. We advise and work with companies on their most critical issues and opportunities: strategy, marketingorganization, talent acquisition, performance management, and M&A support.

We’ve gathered our most-read big data articles of 2015:

Big Data and Supply Chain Management

With current technologies, there are increasing amounts of information to be gathered and exchanged in the world, creating more opportunities for businesses to harness that information and chart a course, or to tweak processes based on that information. According to an Accenture study, “97% of executives report having an understanding of how Big Data analytics can benefit their supply chain, but only 17% said that they have implemented it in at least one supply chain function.”  Read the full article.

Drowning in Big Data, Parched for Information

KPMG recently conducted a survey of 144 CFOs and CIOs with the objective of gaining a more concrete understanding of the opportunities and challenges that big data and analytics present.  The survey found that 99% of respondents believe that data and analytics are at least somewhat important to their business strategies; and 69% consider them to be crucially or very important.  Despite the perceived value of big data, 85% of respondents reported that they don’t know to analyze and interpret the data they already have in hand (much less what to do with forthcoming data). Read the full article.

Using Big Data to Solve Problems

Forget for a moment the potential of adopting big data analytics throughout the entire supply chain, and consider instead how big data can untangle and integrate seemingly unrelated masses of data to solve small problems in a warehouse or distribution center. That’s exactly what this company did. Read the full article.

The Pitfalls of Predictive Analytics

Executives are eager to jump on the bandwagon, too. Although only 13% of 250 executives surveyed by Accenture said they use big data primarily for predictive purposes, as many as 88% indicated big data analytics is a top priority for their company. With an increasing number of companies learning to master the precursors to developing predictive models — namely, connecting, monitoring, and analyzing — we can safely assume the art of gleaning business intelligence from foresight will continue to grow. Read the full article.