Analytics in a Business Context: Practical guidance on establishing a fact-based culture

Analytics in a Business Context - the first book issued by the Vision to Value (V2V) Professional Best Practice Community - guides readers through the essential steps in establishing a fact-based culture.

The book leads off with an introduction by Information Builders senior executive Frank Vella, and crystallizes insights from more than 30 thought leaders into four chapters - Building the Analytics Business Case, Problem Solving: The Right Data for the Right Question, Monetizing Data and Establishing Analytics Within the Organization - that explore key issues in launching analytics within an organization and expanding the impact of data in corporate decision processes.

The chapter structures reflect the V2V content co-creation process. Each starts with analysis of how and why the topic is important to establishing analytics in a business context, defining the connection between analytics and business benefit. The chapters then explore best practices in the topic area: a variety of expert opinions identify the ways that private and public-sector organizations have successfully navigated key issues and delivered compelling outcomes. Each chapter concludes with advice on the path forward, outlining steps, milestones and metrics that the reader can use to calibrate their own analytics initiatives.

Analytics in a Business Context is an invaluable guide for both analytics practitioners who are seeking practical, real-world advice on how best to connect data with corporate environments, and for executives who understand that evidence-based business culture and practices are the way of the future, and who need a framework for establishing analytics disciplines within their organizations.

Michael O'Neil is one of the world's foremost independent IT industry analysts. Over the course of his career, he has helped executives at leading buy-side and sell-side organizations to capitalize new technologies and accompanying business opportunities. He has been a keynote speaker at dozens of events, and held intensive strategy workshops across North America, and in Asia, Australia, Europe and the Caribbean, on issues ranging from channel/ecosystem management to hybrid/cloud roadmapping. And O'Neil has authored hundreds of reports and whitepapers, and two acclaimed management books: Building Cloud Value: A Guide to Best Practice, 2016 (with InsightaaS partner Mary Allen) and The Death of Core Competency: A management guide to cloud computing and the zero-friction management future (InsightaaS Press, 2014). After spending nearly 20 years as a senior executive with vendor-focused analyst firm International Data Corporation (IDC), O'Neil started businesses focused on delivering deep IT/business content to a wider community. Current/recent clients include senior policy officials in Canadian and international governments, IT and business executives with firms looking to transform their business operations through the application of advanced technologies, corporate finance firms, academic institutions, US/global research firms and other consulting organizations - as well as sell-side firms ranging from global IT product and service suppliers to niche cloud vendors, channel members and service providers. Most of O'Neil's current consulting work is focused on analytics, cloud computing and data centre operations and economics, and on IT supplier management or GTM/channel strategy. In 2015, O'Neil (again, with InsightaaS partner Mary Allen) launched the Toronto Cloud Business Coalition, uniting buy-side, sell-side, academic and other thought leaders in co-creation of Best Practices positions addressing the most important issues in cloud adoption and use; this initiative has and continues to deliver landmark reports on critical cloud topics. O'Neil and Allen have subsequently launched three additional Best Practice communities, including Vision to Value: The Economics of Data (V2V), DC Foresight, Transformative Technologies in Canada, IoT Coalition Canada, Canadian Analytics Business Coalition. Together with their associated Meetup groups, these communities currently serve approximately 4,000 IT practitioners and IT/business managers and executives. In 2016, O'Neil was asked to develop and deliver a course, Cloud Systems in Practice, for University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies. Learners taking the course include professionals employed by Canada's major banks and telcos, leading academic institutions, healthcare and other public sector organizations, IT suppliers and smaller Canadian businesses. In 2018, InsightaaS partner with McMaster University's Computing Infrastructure Research Centre (CIRC) to launch the Great Canadian Data Centre Symposium. GCDCS19 is schedueld for June, 2019. Through the course of his career, O'Neil has been a prolific publisher and consultant. In addition to the Best Practice reports and Building Cloud Value, recent publications include: reports providing IT strategy and investment guidance to both business and technology executives, case studies detailing the business impact of analytics and other advanced technologies, extensive research on sustainability, hybrid IT roadmaps for five Caribbean nations, US-focused reports (with Techaisle) on security, Big Data analytics, IT maturity and the "buyer's journey," and buy-side and channel trends in cloud computing, mobility and managed services, and (with InsightaaS) analyses of issues ranging from cloud automation and orchestration to channel management in the hybrid/post-transactional IT industry.

Vision to Value: The Economics of Data (V2V) is a community established in Toronto in 2017. Sponsored by Information Builders, V2V regularly connects practitioners and other thought leaders to develop and discuss best practices in the adoption and use of analytics. V2V members contributing to Analytics in a Business Context include: - Mary Allen, Chief Content Officer, InsightaaS - Dean McKeown, Associate Director, Master of Management Analytics, Queen's University - Caterina Didio-Duggan, Area Marketing Director, Information Builders - Francis Jeanson, Data science and AI entrepreneur - Michael Proulx, Founder, Pride Conflict Risk Management - Victor Magdic, Managing Director, Concept Flow - Jan Naranowicz, Reporting Analyst and WFM Leader, Rogers Communications - Vlad Skorokhod, Principal and Director of Data Science, eclairesys - Data Saltern, Director, BusinessOne Corporation - Don Sheppard, Emerging technology consultant, standards advisor, author - Kelly Piggott, Marketing Analyst, Information Builders - Prasanna Gunasekara, Partner, SmartProz - Howard Bishansky, Director, Channels & Alliances, CenturyLink Canada - Suresh Subramaniam, Data Scientist, Social Planning Council of Peel - Brian Joynt, Senior Vice President, Sales, Data and Analytics - Kartik Mathur, Senior Portfolio Manager, Scotiabank - May Chang, Former EVP, FInance and Operations, Markham Stouffville Hospital - Glenda Schmidt, EMBA, Edward Jones - Jeffrey Veffer, Senior Consultant, IoT and Analytics, Jones Lang LaSalle - Jamie McDougall, VP, Business Intelligence & Analytics, Gore Mutual - Hania Metulynsky, Business Analyst, Ukrainian Credit Union - Mitchell Ogilvie, Senior Solutions Architect, Information Builders - Igor Zaks, President and CEO, TenzorAI - Ken Tucker, Independent Consultant, Connaught Ealing Solutions - Michael Shin, Team Lead, Transformative Technology Adoption, Ontario Government - Alice Rueda, Ph.D Candidate in Electrical Engineering, Ryerson University - Lewis Luo, International Consultant, ANI Networking - Roman Zubarev, Partner, 29signals Consulting - Pavan Jauhal, Business Analyst, City of Toronto - Ashraf Ghonaim, Strategic Management Consultant, City of Toronto - Shrikant Subramanian, Manager, Finance Transformation, Accenture - Paromita Ray, BI/Data Analyst, Total Credit Recovery Ltd. - Puroshoth Ramu, Analytics Manager, LexisNexis