Management Information Analysis

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Authorities Hope Data Analytics Can Help Contain Virus Outbreaks

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Analytics Virus OutbreaksThe Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa has been grabbing international headlines for weeks, and now, as authorities fight to contain the disease’s spread, some experts are recommending the use of a new tool: data analytics. In the countries where the epidemic began, the World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the difficulty in obtaining reliable numbers, and organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have begun using mobile data to gain insights into the spread of the virus.

Mobile phones are ubiquitous in many African countries where landline infrastructure is sorely lacking. French telecommunications company Orange S.A. recently handed over anonymized data from 150,000 users in Senegal, helping to create a map of population movement and communications. The hope is that this information will allow authorities to better plan the location of treatment centers and, if necessary, restrict travel between certain regions.

Mobile devices can give exact data on people’s locations and identify calls to hospitals or specialized hotlines to detect specific cities or regions where outbreaks occur. Similar tactics have been used since 2010 during the Haiti cholera outbreak.

“Big data analytics is about bringing together many different data sources and mining them to find patterns,” said Accenture Health managing director Frances Dare to the BBC. “We have health clinic and physician reports, media reports, comment on social media, information from public health workers on the ground, transactional data from retailers and pharmacies, travel ticket purchases, helpline data, as well as geo-spatial tracking.”

A comprehensive ETL architecture can gather data from all of these disparate sources and organize it into a unified format that authorities and health organizations can use to track a disease’s spread and optimize containment and preventative measures.

Comprehensive Information Key for Data Analytics Success

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Data Analytics Big data is one of the most talked-about trends in business these days, but many companies don’t fully understand what it is or why it is important, or else they lack the insight to take full advantage of the information they gather. An article in CMS Wire points out a few of the factors that businesses should take into account before launching into a data analytics strategy.

Data comes in many forms and from many sources, and it’s essential that companies have the tools to read all forms and extract the parts that will be useful to their business. Millions of gigabytes of data are automatically generated by devices connected through the Internet of Things, but a smaller yet often more important amount of information comes from emails or social media interactions, or is entered manually by employees.

The degree to which each source of data is useful varies greatly from one organization to the next, and can change over time as business strategies evolve. Even though it is still the early days of analytics, companies that have managed to implement successful systems are already reaping the rewards. A recent Accenture study found that high-performing companies are five times more likely to use information analytics, and that companies with advanced analytics outperform the average S&P 500 business by 64 percent.

A data management services provider can help companies get started on the daunting task of gathering and organizing information from various sources through the extract, transform, load process. This involves culling data and uploading it to the receiving system in a unified format, making it much easier to analyze and draw conclusions from.

Gartner Symposium Centers on Data Analytics

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Data AnalyticsThe 2014 edition of the Gartner Symposium/IT Expo, which focuses on emerging technological trends with an eye toward predicting which will come out on top, took place in Orlando, Florida, from October 5-9. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the event was the continued rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), which will have a number of consequences on both the business and tech worlds. Gartner says that in 2014 companies will spend over $40 billion designing and implementing IoT solutions.

More importantly, IoT development is no longer limited to large enterprises, as smaller businesses are entering the market as well. One of the direct results of the growth of IoT is the exponential increase in the amount of data that is generated, which is in turn placing a premium on analytics and giving companies that can take full advantage of that data a larger edge over their competition. Gartner predicts that health care and retail are two areas that will benefit especially from this trend.

The research firm showed some specific projections to back up this assertion: by 2017, the cost of diabetic care will go down by 10 percent thanks to the use of smartphones in health care, and by 2020 life expectancy in the developed world will have increased by half a year based solely on the adoption of wireless health monitoring solutions.

In retail, companies are already using analytics to focus their marketing efforts thanks to the data they gather from mobile purchases. By 2020, Gartner expects a 5 percent increase in sales for retailers that use targeted messaging.

A data management services provider can help companies take full advantage of business intelligence analytics by equipping them with the tools to gather all the information they will need in a format that is easy to study and draw conclusions from.

Report: Federal Guidelines Driving Health Care Analytics

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Health Care Data AnalyticsA report by consulting firm ResearchFox has identified the main factors behind the ongoing growth of the global health care analytics market. As this blog reported recently, a forecast by IQ4I Research and Consultancy predicts that the market will reach $20.8 billion in the year 2020. ResearchFox agrees, anticipating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22 percent over the next four years, when the market will go from the current $4.8 billion to more than $10 billion in 2018.

In the United States specifically, ResearchFox gives much of the credit for that anticipated growth to expanding federal mandates, which are leading to increased use of electronic health records (EHRs) and implementation of health information exchanges (HIEs). Experts also believe that growth will accelerate as the benefits of analytics become more noticeable. Primarily, quick and easy access to health information is already leading to improved patient diagnoses as physicians have a larger pool of data to study.

Other advantages include providing easy access to doctor performance evaluations and more effectively detecting health care fraud. For providers, health care analytics work in much the same way as business intelligence analytics, giving essential insights that will allow them to divert personnel and resources in order to improve their services and revenue.

Conversely, a few factors will prevent the market from growing even faster, most notably security concerns and a lack of analytics and IT expertise among current health care workers. Over time, as analytics usage becomes more prevalent, this situation will be resolved because organizations will put a greater focus on hiring employees who can efficiently manage analytics tools.

Health Care Panel Discusses Potential of Data Analytics

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Health Care AnalyticsSymphony Technology Group (STG) convened a panel of health care executives and physicians for an event called “Delivering on the Promise of Big Data in Health Care.” The event brought together people with experience leveraging data in different sectors of the health care industry, with the ultimate goal of finding unifying solutions to streamline operations. The meeting, which was held in Washington, D.C., was the first in what should be a global series of panels.

The participants concluded that a network of data points can provide essential information to a number of end users along different stages of the health care process, allowing for better decision-making from product development to point of care integration. They also noted the ways that health care analytics differ from the more widespread business intelligence analytics, because of the heightened quality standards and security concerns that managing patients’ health information entails.

With health analytics, there is naturally a smaller margin for error than in the business world. Patients are also more involved in their own health care than the average business or retail customer, while the degree to which they are informed about health care can vary greatly from one patient to the next.

“We believe that there is a greater potential to harness the full potential of data and analytics in our industry if that data is both ‘big’ (high volume, high velocity) and ‘deep’ (contextually and clinically rich),” said STG health care operations partner Simon Kennedy. “However, biology is not algebra so to solve the varying, and very different, applications you need also to be ‘smart’ — tailoring the data and analytics used very specifically to the problem at hand.”

Survey Shows Greater Urgency from Companies to Adopt Analytics

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Data AnalyticsAn increasing number of companies are realizing the importance of data analytics as a tool for success, according to a recently published study by Accenture and General Electric (GE). A survey of 250 executives showed that many are still lagging in business intelligence analytics solutions, but most are aware of the potential applications and are preparing to implement them.

Only 29 percent of respondents said their companies currently use big data for predictive analytics or to streamline their business processes, but many more are using data in other areas of their operations. Sixty-five percent are employing data tools to monitor their equipment, using the information they gather to proactively carry out maintenance and 62 percent are gathering analytical information from dispersed environments, such as oil pipelines or wind farms.

When it comes to awareness about the importance of analytics, an overwhelming 93 percent have already noticed new competitors in their markets successfully using big data, which has driven 88 percent of respondents to call data analytics a top priority for the coming months. Sixty-six percent of executives expressed concern that their organizations could lose their market position if they fail to implement analytics.

“The payoff from joining industrial big data and predictive analytics to benefit from the productivity gains the Industrial Internet has to offer is no longer in doubt,” said GE Software vice president Bill Ruh in a press release. “But data alone won’t generate value. To make information useful requires an investment in new capabilities and talent that will serve as a catalyst to extract value quickly.”

ETL tools allow businesses to gather specific data based on which area of operations they want to address. Companies can then analyze this information to optimize business processes and get ahead of the competition.

Data Analytics Changing the Small Business Landscape

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Data AnalyticsAccording to market research firm SMB Group, about 57 percent of medium-sized businesses currently use data analytics solutions, a number that is just 18 percent for small businesses. But experts believe those rates will be going up fast over the next few years — leading virtualization company Parallels, Inc., estimates that the market for cloud services to SMBs will be worth $95 billion as early as next year.

“The ability to evaluate and apply data has always been an integral part of an organization’s success,” said former Microsoft COO Bob Herbold upon giving a $2.6 million endowment for the creation of a data science program at his alma mater, Case Western Reserve University. “But the potential that exists today to enhance operations and outcomes is nearly limitless. Those who understand how data works and what it can yield will carry enormous advantage in the new economy.”

Forbes notes that data analytics can be especially useful in industries such as health care and retail, which can benefit greatly from the amount of data produced by the Internet of Things — 30 billion connected devices generating 40 trillion gigabytes of data by 2020, according to one forecast.

And MSPMentor points out how a growing number of companies are outsourcing their data management services to specialized providers. These companies have the resources and the expertise to mine data, gather real-time statistical information and identify emerging trends or even predict future tendencies. Through business intelligence analytics, companies can gain access to unprecedented market insights which can help them plan better business strategies, giving them a significant leg up on the competition.

Governments Adopting Data Analytics to Boost Economy, Public Services

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A Forbes Insights case study titled “Analytics Paves the Way for Better Government” details some of the ways that national and regional governments around the world are implementing data analytics solutions to improve economic results and modernize their own processes. According to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, public institutions have the potential to generate or save up to $3 trillion through the use of analytics, by digitizing information and using data to improve decision-making.

One of the key elements to successful data usage is sharing among agencies, something that, as the report notes, is not nearly as common as it should be. One U.S. state that has implemented a data sharing program is Indiana, which is using analytics to achieve a number of public policy goals in education, employment and health care.

At the local level, the city of Austin, Texas, is developing a solution to track everything from finances and permits to crime statistics. A recent InformationWeek article also points out that several government agencies are already using analytics to fight fraud in Social Security and other benefits programs.

The main obstacle that governments will face as they adopt data analytics plans, as Forbes points out, is extracting valuable insights from the vast quantities of data they manage. Public agencies can benefit from the use of data management services to achieve that end. While governments have access to more information than ever before, it comes from a variety of different sources and, taken separately, provides little in the form of useful insights. Extract, transform, load (ETL) tools gather that data and convert it to a unified format that is easy to analyze and draw conclusions from.

Study: Health Care Analytics Market to Surpass $20 Billion by 2020

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A study by IQ4I Research and Consultancy predicts that the market for health care analytics will reach $20.8 billion by 2020. According to the research firm’s conclusions, factors including a lack of skilled labor and little guarantee of patient confidentiality are currently hindering market growth.

“The majority of the growth is driven by factors such as government funding, technological standards, rising health care awareness/standards, extending social health insurance and medical tourism,” reads the report.

In 2013, North America accounted for 58.5 percent of the global health care analytics market and IQ4I expects that situation to continue, although other regions will also grow during the forecast’s six-year timeframe. Researchers point out that the major providers of health care data solutions, all U.S.-based, make up about 80 percent of the market.

Supporting these predictions, Health Data Management cites the results of a recent survey of IT executives at some of America’s largest health systems. Fifty-four percent of respondents said that analytics is their top priority going forward, well ahead of population health initiatives (42 percent), adoption of the World Health Organization’s ICD-10 code (30 percent) and accountable care and shared risk initiatives (29 percent). In all, 90 percent agreed that analytics will be “very important” or “extremely important” for their organizations within the next three years.

Data management solutions can help health care providers simplify the analytics process by presenting information in a clear and easy to read manner. With that data in hand, organizations can ensure streamlined operations and superior care for their patients.

CIOs Should Take a Hands-on Role in Data Analytics

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Researcher Michael Goul of Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business spoke recently to the Society for Information Management’s Advanced Practices Council (APC), a forum for senior IT executives, about the role of the chief information officer (CIO) in the data analytics department. According to Goul, companies’ CIOs should have a major part in aligning data gathering and business strategies.

Among the specific tasks that should be the purview of the CIO and IT department, Goul mentioned assessing risk and establishing security practices, designing data-management policies, encouraging collaboration between business and data divisions and applying predictive analytics to identify new business opportunities or improve existing ones.

In a CIO magazine column, APC director Madeline Weiss and advisor June Drewry, former CIO of insurer Chubb Corp., say that CIOs currently face a “Wild West” when it comes to big data. An unprecedented amount of information is available and most companies realize its potential and are implementing business intelligence analytics projects, but they are still learning the finer points of data analysis and how to turn that data into business results.

For Goul, coordination is essential to the success of analytics programs. He identified six steps for an effective process:

  • Design: A project should be planned out in detail before its implementation.
  • Embed: Ensure that each department is getting the specific information that it needs.
  • Empower: Train employees to understand and work with the data they receive.
  • Measure: Monitor the project’s results in as close to real time as possible.
  • Evaluate: After the project’s conclusion, look closely at the results to measure its effectiveness.
  • Re-target: Take lessons from the results and apply them to future projects.

The importance of data analytics is growing throughout the business world, and CIOs and the departments they manage have the chance to take a leading role in their companies’ business strategies.

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