Digital Transformation is not an option. Companies that don’t incorporate AI and analytics in business planning will become prey to those that do. While the preponderance of papers and conferences discuss “what” analytics is and the benefits, there is an absence of “how” to practically implement AI and analytics for improved business performance. Enter the Analytics Academy where you’ll learn “How To” implement analytics; avoid the common mistakes and misconceptions to establish an analytics culture; understand the applications of advanced analytics, predictions, forecasting, AI, and ML; see the linkage of data, insights, and decisions; benchmark where you are and what you aspire to be; measure yourself against best practices; know the ROI of successful analytics, and; come to realize that analytics is not hard, long, or expensive… It’s simply a discipline.
Most executives and managers say adopting AI and analytics is their top priority, however, only 1 of 3 of these projects succeeds. Further, the lack of analytics costs businesses some $242 billion annually from under optimized planning. Implementing AI has been elusive due to a lack of vision, voice, and clarity on the value of analytics, and how to achieve a culture of data-driven decisions. Module 1 of the Analytics Academy follows the book, “Implementing an Analytics Culture for Data-Driven Decisions”, to crystallize and articulate the Roadmap to implement an analytics culture and to give clarity to the four main components of Mindset, People, Process, and Systems. These components when aligned encompass a successful implementation path.
In Module 1 you’ll learn each of the four components of the analytics culture, then the assembly of these components into a Roadmap for how to implement analytics. You’ll conclude with an exceptionally enlightening use case where a highly successful analytics proof-of-concept project ended without its implementation, and where and why on the analytics Roadmap misalignment can cause a derailment.
Every organization within the business must collaborate amongst each other and become partners to corporate growth. While the ubiquitous medium of collaboration via spreadsheets affords commonality, it costs businesses some $60 billion annually in wasted labor and is void of insights needed to enlighten decisions and improve planning. Digital Transformation requires organizations to go beyond the toolbox of spreadsheets, BI, and data visualization to the new world of AI and analytics.
In Module 2 you’ll learn the fundamentals of the Analytics Business Partner, and for those that didn’t take Module 1, we’ll cover the Systems that make up the modern toolbox. Then you’ll learn the fundamentals of storytelling for effective management decisions and how to use visualization and simplification of the complexity of analytics to deliver a clean, concise, and understandable message. Then Benchmarking will follow, so as to measure where you are on your analytics journey compared to your Analytics Business Partner aspiration. Finally, you’ll hear of one man’s analytics journey he’s taking his organization through, what he has learned, and how he plans to proceed.
Too many analytics journeys fail for lack of bandwidth, as people are overwhelmed with their current workload, so the adoption of analytics gets put off. The good news is that 40% to 60% of bandwidth can be recovered by simply eliminating unused, little used, and ineffective reports, as well as automating data capture and standard reporting. The other inhibitor in becoming an Analytics Powerhouse is simply… how to start analytics!
In Module 3 you’ll learn the process to eliminate and automate standard reporting to gain bandwidth for analytics, then how to start your first analytics project to launch you on the road to become the Analytics Powerhouse. Now that you’re ready and doing analytics you’ll learn how to “think” analytically through Systematic Thinking™ in approaching business performance improvement. You’ll round-out analytics learnings with a primer on the fundamentals of AI and ML to orient on what they are and how applied, and for those that didn’t take Module 1, we’ll cover some practical applications of AI-Enabled analytics.
Students who complete any two Modules and the on-line test qualify for the Certificate in Analytics Intelligence from the Finance Analytics Institute.
I found out I really didn’t know what I was talking about [on analytics] or what the potential was or how to describe it. This [Analytics Academy] has … definitely solidify my understanding of how to approach things, and the value you can get [from analytics], and articulate that as I speak to people.
Jonathan Morgan, Sr. Dir. Inventory, Palo Alto Networks
I was attracted by the [Analytics Academy] module, Systems & Storytelling for Data-Driven Decisions, to learn how to tell a better story to the Finance Committee. Specifically, to find ways to make the financial packet better, easier to assemble, and to tell a story to the Committee that was better understood and more informative. Though not specifically seeking analytics, I learned how analytics could both solve my primary mission, and gain insights that could materially improve business performance.
Lisa Tapp, COO/CFO, San Antonio Museum of Art
I found the academy extremely insightful in better understanding how to collect and use data as well as building a company culture for analytics. [At first] I felt a little intimidated by the courses but found it very approachable and yet it also provided high-level insights for more experienced data analysts.
Kevin Morenzi, Sr. Director, Monterey Mushroom
I believed that the restaurant chain was underperforming its potential. In particular, its on-site managers made too many operational decisions based on their prior industry experiences and “gut feel”. I wanted to demonstrate that improvements could be achieved by combining data-driven analytics with industry experience. As such, we embarked on the road to analytics decisions.
Kent Bearden, VP Operations, Saint Marc, U.S.A
