A ‘home’ for analysts

When the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and partner Lionheart Publishing first discussed publishing the online magazine you’re now reading, it took about 10 seconds to come up with a name: Analytics. It was toward the end of 2007, and Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris’ book, “Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning,” had seemingly convinced every CEO in the world that their organization needed “analytics” in order to gain a competitive advantage. Organizations were swimming in data, but most of them didn’t know what to do with it. “Analytics” promised to turn data into profits, and quickly the concept in its various forms (“Business Analytics,” “Advanced Analytics,” etc.) showed up at or near the top of every business publication’s or business consulting group’s “Top 10 Business Trends/Strategic Technologies/etc. of the Year.”

With the launch of Analytics magazine in spring 2008, INFORMS made a statement that it intended to be a serious player in the worldwide analytics movement. Three years later, the analytics bandwagon continues to gather momentum as does INFORMS’ commitment to it. A recent market study conducted by Capgemini Consulting on behalf of INFORMS convinced the Institute to not just jump on the analytics bandwagon, but to lead it through the creation of new programs and initiatives specifically aimed at the hundreds of thousands of analysts around the world looking for a professional “home” to enhance their knowledge, skills, networking and careers.

Along those lines, INFORMS recently renamed its spring “practice” conference the “INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research” and revamped the program accordingly. The line-up for the 2011 conference, set for April 10-12 in Chicago, features tracks devoted to the “analytics process” and “public sector analytics,” as well as “supply chain management.” “Analytics Connect,” a new, professional job event held in conjunction with the conference and sponsored by Analytics magazine, will give employers and potential job seekers an opportunity to meet face-to-face in a casual business environment.

The conference will also offer many networking opportunities and “special programs,” including a soft skills workshop that any analyst interested in sharpening his or her selling, communication, problem framing and team-building skills will not want to miss (see https://pubsonline.informs.org/do/10.1287/LYTX.2011.01.01/full).