Competing on analytics: The new science of winning

Predictive analytics is both an art and science that learns to predict the future of individuals, markets, or optimize machines and use of capital to drive competitive advantage. According to Davenport and Harris in Competing on Analytics: The Science of Winning, in order for a company to compete in today's global market, they must drive analytics into the very fabric of the business. Tesco is the world's thirdlargest retailer, largely because of their use of data analytics. They analyze loyalty card information to create more than 100 million personalized coupons annually in 13 countries. Tesco has increased redemption rates, and revenue by a factor of 3.6 over other competitors with ana1ytics as their core competitive weapon. The book is filled with examples, such as Tesco, of companies who leverage analytics throughout either the back-office or customer facing processes to win in the market.