Humans vs. machines

In his executive edge column in this issue of Analytics, Mike Neal, CEO of DecisionNext, poses an interesting question: “Have we grown too dependent on technology, specifically automation that makes important decisions for us?”

The decade-old analytics wave – built on the premise that data-driven decision-making is superior to good, old-fashioned gut instinct – has swept over the business world. Clearly, there is no going back as industry after industry has reaped the benefits of automation and analytics. But is there still a role for humans in the decision-making process?

Despite their biases and blind spots, humans are pretty good when it comes to nuance, the art of the deal. Writes Neal: “Computers are great at finding connections between data points, while humans are great at assigning meaning to those connections. Human experts in any given industry, therefore, are well suited for applying predictive analytics to real-world decisions.” For more on the story, see “Humans or machines.”

Speaking of humans and human resources, Chandrakant Maheshwari, a subject matter expert in the risk and regulatory practice at Genpact LLC, praises the power of human curiosity in his Forum column titled “Driving curiosity as a culture in an analytics organization.” Writes Maheshwari: “Curiosity and continuous learning have become critical qualities for the analytics professional, but the biggest challenge is knowing what to learn and where to explore.”

For our cover story, Larry Skowronek, senior vice president of product management for Nexidia, takes a look at what he describes as “one of the most interesting trends in the analytics space today”: real-time analytics. In his article “The reality of real time,” Skowronek presents four key areas – at-risk compliance, customer retention, increased sales and post-call analytics – where real-time analysis and interaction with customers results in the “best possible” business outcomes.

As I’m writing this a week before Halloween, I’m also preparing to travel to Philadelphia for the INFORMS Annual Meeting on Nov. 1-4. I’m looking forward to attending many of the technical sessions, keynote presentations and social events, along with seeing some longtime friends like Vijay Mehrotra, entrepreneur/professor and author of the “Analyze This!” column. In his latest column Vijay recalls his first trip to an INFORMS conference 25 years ago, also in Philadelphia, and how the conference and a brief chat changed his career path.