Catch the analytics wave

Every forward-looking organization hopes to catch and ride the next big technology wave. INFORMS, which jumped on the analytics wave in a big way almost a decade ago, has established itself as a leader on a number of fronts by launching a series of analytics-oriented initiatives including continuing education, certification, corporate maturation and the publication of Analytics magazine.

Speaking of catching a wave, it was only fitting that the recent INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & Operations Research was held at “Surf City, USA” – Huntington Beach, Calif. Beautiful weather and an oceanfront setting, a record number of attendees, an Oscar-like awards gala and a dynamic multi-day program headlined by a pair of inspiring plenary presentations added up to a phenomenal conference at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa.

With the famed HB surf and beach constantly beckoning from seemingly every resort vantage point, it’s a wonder any of the conference attendees made it to the parade of conference presentations, networking events and receptions, but I’m pretty sure all of them did, and they were rewarded with an outstanding program from start to finish.

The conference was highlighted by the Franz Edelman Award (for outstanding achievement in operations research and analytics) competition and gala. Syngenta earned the 2015 Edelman for its innovative work in agriculture, where it uses analytics, O.R. and optimization tools to breed a better soybean, resulting in nearly $300 million in development cost savings while simultaneously boosting crop production up to 20 percent.

The conference program was anchored by an impressive lineup of presentations from thought leaders at Google, IBM, Boeing, MIT, Disney, Intel, Chevron, Ford Motors, Mu Sigma, Stanford University, Accenture, Yahoo, FICO and many other companies and universities.

Staying with our watery theme and big waves, this issue’s cover story by data scientist Randy Bartlett, CAP, sends up a red flag warning about the “coming flood … of statistical malfeasance.” Next, in “Unified analytics: A new mastery over the data wave,” David Zakkam and Ankesh Aggrawal of Mu Sigma make the point that exploding data is not necessarily a good thing because “organizations feel like they are drinking water from a fire hose.”

Moral of the story: Don’t get pulled under by the sea of data. Instead, with apologies to the Beach Boys, “catch an analytics wave and you’re sittin’ on top of the world.”