Advanced Analytics was a big topic at the IBM IOD conference last week. As part of this, predictive analytics was again an important piece of the story along with other advanced analytics capabilities IBM has developed or is in the process of developing to support optimization. These include Big Insights (for big data), analyzing data streams, content/text analytics, and of course, the latest release of Cognos.

One especially interesting topic that was discussed at the conference was the skills required to make advanced analytics a reality. I have been writing and thinking a lot about this subject so I was very happy to hear IBM address it head on during the second day keynote. This keynote included a customer panel and another speaker, Dr. Atul Gawande, and both offered some excellent insights. The panel included Scott Friesen (Best Buy), Scott Futren (Guinnett County Public Schools), Srinivas Koushik (Nationwide), and Greg Christopher (Nestle). Here are some of the interrelated nuggets from the discussions:

• Ability to deliver vs. the ability to absorb. One panelist made the point that a lot of new insights are being delivered to organizations. In the future, it may become difficult for people to absorb all of this information (and this will require new skills too).
• Analysis and interpretation. People will need to know how to analyze and how to interpret the results of an analysis. As Dr. Gawande pointed out, “Having knowledge is not the same as using knowledge effectively.”
• The right information. One of the panelists mentioned that putting analytics tools in the hands of line people might be too much for them, and instead the company is focusing on giving these employees the right information.
• Leaders need to have capabilities too. If executives are accustomed to using spreadsheets and relying on their gut instincts, then they will also need to learn how to make use of analytics.
• Cultural changes. From call center agents using the results of predictive models to workers on the line seeing reports to business analysts using more sophisticated models, change is coming. This change means people will be changing the way that they work. How this change is handled will require special thought by organizations.

IBM executives also made a point of discussing the critical skills required for analytics. These included strategy development, developing user interfaces, enterprise integration, modeling, and dealing with structured and unstructured data. IBM has, of course, made a huge investment in these skills. GBS executives emphasized the 8,500 employees in its Global Business Services Business Analytics and Optimization group. Executives also pointed to the fact that the company has thousands of partners in this space and that 1 in 3 IBMers will attend analytics training. So, IBM is prepared to help companies in their journey into business analytics.

Are companies there yet? I think that it is going to take organizations time to develop some of these skills (and some they should probably outsource). Sure, analytics has been around a long time. And sure, vendors are making their products easier to use and that is going to help end users become more effective. Even if we’re just talking about a lot of business people making use of analytic software (as opposed to operationalizing it in a business process), the reality is that analytics requires a certain mindset. Additionally, unless someone understands the context of the information he or she is dealing with, it doesn’t matter how user friendly the platform is—they can still get it wrong. People using analytics will need to think critically about data, understand their data, and understand context. They will also need to know what questions to ask.

I whole-heartedly believe it is worth the investment of time and energy to make analytics happen.

Please note: As luck would have it, I am currently fielding a study on advanced analytics! In am interested in understanding what your company’s plans are for advanced analytics. If you’re not planning to use advanced analytics, I’d like to know why. If you’re already using advanced analytics I’d like to understand your experience.

If you participate in this survey I would be happy to send you a report of our findings. Simply provide your email address at the end of the survey! Here’s the link: Click here to take survey