Think back to a time when your organisation was still in its early days – what would you have told yourself, and others at that time, knowing what you know now? How would years of wisdom, experience, success and failure changed what you did? Would you have taken more risks? Would you have invested more in certain areas of the business? Would you have expanded sooner?
It’s too late to change what has passed, but you do have the power to steer your organisation’s future. Imagine what could be achieved if you knew which products and services to focus on and expand, and which to eliminate. Imagine how much more profitable your company could be if you knew which geographical markets were likely to trend in their demand for your product. Imagine being the first on the scene in a new market. All of this, and more, is now possible and available to organisations of all sizes through the innovative technology from SAP HANA Predictive Analytics.
Predictive Analytics 101
You have likely heard something about the business benefits of predictive analytics, or you might be wondering what all the fuss is about.
Simply put, predictive analysis:
- Transforms multiple data sources and formats into practical, organisational insights and visualisation
- Eliminates the need for manual data analysis
- Provides you with answers to your organisations questions such as What happened? Why did it happen? How did it happen? What will happen next?
- Enables a proactive approach to intelligent business planning
Key components of predictive analytics from SAP HANA:
- Combining speedy in-memory analytics and native predictive algorithms
- Leveraging Big Data to extract insights from more complex data sources
- Creating meaningful and useful visualisations with the data
How could my company benefit from predictive analytics?
Knowing what the future holds for your organisation puts you in control of where it can go. Gaining accurate answers to your company’s ‘what will happen next?’ question enables you to plan, steer, mitigate and decide what happens now, and in the future.
Here are some of the ways other companies are using predictive analysis for their future growth:
- 52% to increase profitability – e.g. eliminate underperforming products and services
- 55% to create new revenue opportunities – e.g. predict market trends and develop new products to meet the needs
- 45% for customer services - e.g. gain visibility into supply and demand levels to provide proactive services
- 43% for product recommendations and offers - e.g. create customised offers for specific market segments
[Source]
What does predictive analysis look like?
Depending on the business area and strategy you are focusing on, you could be presented with a variety of predictive analysis results.
To answer your organisation’s What happened? question you might use:
- Standard / ad hoc reports showing the facts and figures
- OLAP analysis to consolidate the raw data (this does not necessarily need to be SAP data)
To answer Why did it happen? you can use:
- Drill down analysis in a variety of formats
- Data discovery – pre-determined benchmarks and signal indicators
To answer What will happen next? SAP HANA provides you with:
- Predictive modeling – showing, in a variety of formats, the future trends, curves and behaviours based on the data input
- Real-time predictive analysis also allows you to perform trial and error testing before making any decisions (e.g. what would potentially happen to sales if I increased the availability in certain locations?)
Gaining vision into the future of your organisation provides you with the opportunity to truly become the best in your business; for your clients, your customers and your employees.
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