Jan/Feb 2010

A GREAT MARKETING DIVIDE separates creative types and types. An ad agency or dies by its creative creative director is usually the star. This is because creative can affect many aspects of a company’s brand and brand is what any company lives or dies by. In contrast, analytics has traditionally been seen as primarily part of a direct response model or at least focused on more mundane matters such as ROI (Return on Investment). The CEO would not think to ask the director of marketing analytics how the company’s reputation is holding up. At best, analytics would be used to design and evaluate the results of a focus group or survey. Marketing in online social spaces presents analytics with an opportunity to cross this great divide.

• Kevin Geraghty

COMPANIES INCREASINGLY RELY on a relatively scarce breed to maintain their competitive edge: the people who are able to use statistics, rigorous quantitative or qualitative analysis, and information-modeling techniques to make business decisions. Or, in shorthand, “analytical talent.”

• Jeanne Harris
• Elizabeth Craig
• Henry Egan

SUCCESSFUL DELIVERY OF a new solution is closely tied to client satisfaction. A fair amount of satisfaction is also essential during the development of the solution, not just at delivery time. This article identifies a simple metric that is directly linked to the stakeholders’ satisfaction. This metric has been found especially useful in planning the development of optimization solutions. Many of the ideas presented here have been implemented as part of the ISIS (IBM ILOG Solution Implementation Standard) methodology that has supported such engagements for the past several years.

• Maurice Schlumberger

BUSINESS AS USUAL is a thing of the past. Political transformation, increasing governmental mandates, fluctuating energy prices and increasing competition are just a few of the factors making business anything but usual. Today, virtually all business can be deemed “risky business.” While uncertainty impacts risk, it does not necessarily make business perilous. In fact, risk is critical to any business – for nothing can improve without change – and change requires risk. Conversely, an unwavering commitment to the status quo creates even more risk. Therefore, regardless of a company’s position on risk, it must be understood and managed.

NATURAL AND MAN-MADE disasters swept through various the world and received attention over the past decade. Meanwhile, many parts of the world suffer from the lack of basic necessities, including shelter, water, food, education, access to basic health care and safety, which have been identified among “humanity’s top 10 problems over the next 50 years” [1]. Effective logistics operations are a critical component of addressing these needs.

• Pinar Keskinocak

IN A RECENT INTERVIEW for an upcoming INFORMS podcast on sports and operations research (www.scienceofbetter.org/podcast/cochran.html), INFORMS Director of Communications Barry List asked me how the analysis of sports data had changed since he became a fan in the early 1960s. Although I did give Barry a partial response during the interview, I have continued to consider this question in the days since. I have concluded that the analysis of sports data has changed in four fundamental ways over the past half century.

• James J. Cochran