As might be expected, all of these trends have resulted in increased demand for expertise and solutions. Organizations are willing to expand their investment in analytics talent, software, and training. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that the number of data scientist jobs will increase by approximately 28% through 2026, which equates to about 11.5 million new jobs.
What’s Ahead for the Application of Analytics
The applications of analytics are as varied as the number of businesses and requirements that exist. Any business that can benefit from a clearer view into its operations can benefit from descriptive analytics. And what business would not be interested in using analytics to understand why things happen, what may come next, and what should be done?
For example, consider the range of applications for advanced analytical capabilities for operational applications such as logistics, security, and more.
Analytics on logistics data can determine the most appropriate shipping routes and predict approximate delivery times. Using GPS systems and sensors in delivery vehicles, actual delivery data can then be funneled back into the analytics system to improve upon routes and delivery estimates.
Improving security is another key application of analytics. Fraud accounts for billions of dollars in losses annually, particularly for the banking, insurance, and healthcare sectors, but for many others as well. Continuing improvements to fraud analytics systems are helping to identify and prevent fraud via statistical analysis techniques that range from simple statistics such as averages and quantiles to more sophisticated techniques such as regression analysis, probability distributions and models, data matching, and time-series analysis.
There is even an Israeli startup company, BeeWise, that has built a robotic beehive system that uses analytics and AI to provide around-the-clock care to analyze beehives for disease, monitor them for pesticides, and report in real time any hazards threatening a colony. The company claims that its big data analytics can be used to rescue up to 80% of bees that would have otherwise perished.
Indeed, the applications of data analytics are nearly limitless.