From the Editor: Advanced analytics full of promise, but hard to do

CIOs are avid for advanced analytics offered by in-memory and in-database analytics, and open source big data technologies, like Hadoop.

But take up of advanced analytics, chiefly forward-looking in nature, remains low, despite its promise of making the most of data during times of economic crisis.

Why is this? We look at the state of advanced analytics technology adoption in the July cover feature of the IT in Europe ezine. Three retarding factors are in play: a skills deficit; political impasses between IT and the business; and the immaturity of the technologies, in the sense of a proliferation of niche tools.

Nevertheless, there are success stories, such as the one we feature: Danish wind turbine company Vestas, in its use of software and big data to identify optimal locations for turbines.

To gain a clearer picture of the scale and scope of big data analytics programmes and projects in the UK and the rest of Europe, we have launched the SearchDataManagement.co.UK 2012 reader survey.

Responding to this survey will help us create content and online resources targeted to your information needs, and better understand your organisation's BI, analytics and data management plans and challenges. You can also enter to win one of three £25 MasterCard gift cards.

Sports analytics, brought to the fore by this summer of sport, with Euro 2012, recently ended, and the London 2012 Olympics, just begun, forms the subject of a brace of articles by Gareth Morgan. One gives an overview of predictive analytics in sports. While proving themselves in tennis and car racing, can they make the leap to team sports, long the preserve of bar-room anoraks? The other looks at how rugby union side Leicester Tigers aim to keep their players injury-free and on the pitch through predictive use of biomedical and biomechanical data.

The use of advanced analytics does harbour potential moral hazards, as consultancy firm Deloitte warns. Although opportunities abound for those who educate their customers well and are transparent, beware that just because you can piece together a customer's life from their data trail does not mean that you should.

I hope you find these articles to be of interest. If you would like to contact me about any aspect of data management, analytics or BI, please do so.

Meanwhile, please find below links to other recent articles on SearchDataManagementUK, and allied sites, that you might like to explore.

Best wishes,

Brian McKenna

Each month, SearchDataManagement.co.UK editors choose recent articles and other content to highlight here for our readers. We welcome your feedback on these items and our site in general–you can contact us directly or at [email protected].