LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business is kicking off a new speaker series next week designed to provide practical information for analytics professionals in the local business community.
“Speakers will give their experience with analytics followed by an interactive discussion about the value of analytics in organizations and the challenge of moving analytics from theory into the field,” says Joni Shreve, who directs the college’s master’s program in analytics.
Data analytics, sometimes called predictive analytics, is a process of using statistics and models to identify patterns in consumer buying habits and other activities, and analyzing those patterns to better understand and potentially forecast future behavior. The process uses computer power to apply complex algorithms to the collected data and analyze it.
The first session in the new series, “Analytics: Ensuring Actionable Results in Organizations,” will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, and will feature three national experts in the field: Maureen Norton, a business analytics specialist with IBM; Daniel Porter, co-founder of a Washington, D.C., analytics and technology company; and Paul Codding, an expert in software that deals with processing large sets of data.
Tuesday’s session will be the first of several in the series. Each session will focus on a specific topic area relating to analytics use, from health care and telecommunications industries to government and nonprofit sectors.
As Business Report recently detailed in a magazine feature, small and midsize businesses are increasingly aware of the benefits of using data analytics to improve their business decisions.
College of Business officials hope the program can become a resource for the local business community. The speaker series will be held in room 2520 at the LSU Business Education Complex. LSU has complete details on Tuesday’s kickoff event, as well as RSVP information, which is due at the close of business today if you want to attend. —Stephanie Riegel
