Key Concepts in Business Analytics and Data Visualization

Confirmatory Business Analytics

Predictive and prescriptive analytics that use statistics to judge the likelihood of a future event or outcome occurring

Correlation

Business analytics technique to understand if, and the extent to which, variables are related to each other

Customer Relationship Management

An information system for managing all the interactions with past, current, and potential customers

Descriptive Analytics

Analytics that characterize, summarize, and organize features and properties of the data to facilitate an understanding of business results and the underlying data

Descriptive Statistics

A descriptive analytics technique that uses summary statistics that briefly describe or summarize features of a data set or variable, including the average, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum

Diagnostic Analytics

Analytics performed to investigate the underlying reasons for past results that cannot be answered by simply looking at the descriptive data

Exploratory Business Analytics

Initial descriptive and diagnostic business analytics that analysts use to summarize and explain performance

Histogram

Data visualization that uses rectangles whose area is proportional to the underlying frequency of the data

Outlier

An observation or data point that lies outside its expected distribution

Regression

Technique used to understand the relationship between specific inputs and outputs

Base Rate Fallacy

Occurs when predictions place too little weight on base rates and instead favors different or new information

Classification

A predictive analytics technique to separate, segment, or classify a sample into two or more groups

Goal Seek Analysis

A form of what-if analysis that determines the required input values to get a desired output

Predictive Analytics

Analytics performed to provide foresight by using statistical techniques to identify patterns in historical data and assess likelihood or probability

Time Series Analysis

A predictive analytics technique used to predict future values based on past values of the same variable

What If Analysis

A prescriptive analytics technique that evaluates how potential changes in inputs may affect output

Bar Chart

Data visualization that shows categorical data using vertical/horizontal bars with varying heights/lengths proportional to the values they represent

Bins of Class Intervals

Subset of the data, arranged in increasing order

Data Visualization

Means of presenting the results of analysis in an accessible way through charts. Sometimes called infographic

Histogram

Data visualization that shows the frequency in the distribution of numerical data using bins/intervals arranged in increasing order.

Pie Chart

Circular graph, each slice represents category's proportion of the whole.

Scatterplot

A graph that plots the values of two variables each on its own axis to identify possible correlation or to identify trends.

Stacked Bar

Bar charts with bars subdivided.

Trend

General direction in which a variable is moving.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of website visitors who enter a company's website and immediately leave.

Cluster Analysis

A statistical technique that organizes data into clusters, or groups, in such a manner that all of the data within any cluster are similar, while data across different clusters are different.

Conversion Rate

The percentage of potential customers who actually make a purchase.

Customer Journey

A visual representation of the experience that a customer has with a company, showing all of the customer's interactions or touchpoints with a company.

Decision Tree

A decision-support tool that visually shows various outcomes from different (sequential) decisions.

Key Performance Indicator

Numerical metrics used to gauge company performance.

Marketing

The activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Marketing Mix

The key choices that a company makes to bring a product/service to market. It consists of product, price, place, and promotion.

Sales Funnel Chart

An inverted pyramid chart used to show the steps in the sales process.

Search Engine Optimization

Identifying popular keywords, terms, and phrases that direct search engines to the company's website.

Adaptive/Autonomous Analytics

Newest type of business analytics; it mimics human thought processes and self-learning to rapidly gain insights to large amounts of data.

Algorithm

A set of computer instructions to perform a calculation of business process.

Artificial Neural Networks

A type of machine learning that uses connected processing nodes resembling the human brain.

Blockchain

A distributed ledger based on peer-to-peer networking tech and cryptography that automatically confirms and records data, virtually in real time, is very difficult to change.

Cohort

A group of customers who share a common characteristic over time.

Deep Learning

Artificial neural networks that are deep (many layered).

Machine Learning

Statistical techniques that allow a computer to 'learn' from data without being explicitly programmed.

Natural Language Processing

A form of AI that helps computers understand, process, and generate human language.

Robotic Process Automation

A type of software that mimics the way people perform different tasks within a business process. It can perform high-volume, repetitive, routine tasks that do not require insight or understanding.

Deterministic Models

Descriptive and diagnostic data, All events are known before hand

Probabilistic Models

Predictive and Prescriptive analytics provide less deterministic output. There is always a element of chance o whether or not it will happen

Image Analytics

Computer vision of image recognition. Process of extracting information from images or videos. Works by AI training computer via deep learning to understand the visual world.