Analytics defined

Saw an interesting piece in InfoWorld today - 'Analytics' buzzword needs careful definition. In it Gartner Analyst Andreas bitterer defined the word "Analytics"

"Analytics leverage data in a particular functional process (or application) to enable context-specific insight that is actionable"

Could not agree more. I like to talk about predictive analytics which would be defined, as a subset of the Gartner definition as:

Predictive Analytics leverage data in a particular functional process (or application) to enable context-specific insight into the future that is actionable

Andreas goes on to say " It can be used in many industries in real-time data processing situations to allow for faster business decisions". This is the essence of EDM - using context-specific insight (and rules) to make more precise, more consistent and more agile decisions in real-time data processing situations.

Thanks Andreas, useful definition.