Why does an offer seem to arrive just when you might accept it? Data analysis turns collected data into findings that can guide decisions and actions. For a company, that might mean understanding customers or choosing where to build a facility. It can also mean deciding which message to show you next. section 2.5.1 section 6.1
The work begins with data fit for the question. Organizations collect, clean, combine, and examine records; bringing together several sources can reveal more than relying on one alone. Choosing a location for an urgent care clinic, for example, can involve traffic, population, demographics, existing facilities, prices, and employment. Analysis helps turn those separate observations into a picture of possible sites. section 1.4.3 section 6.1
Not every way of examining data is the same. A dashboard or simple report can describe what happened. In the stricter use of “analytics” here, the term begins with approaches involving advanced mathematics, algorithms, and some form of learning. Analysis can also produce new, derived data; the result may travel beyond the activity that generated the original records. Asking where data came from—and what new data was made from it—therefore matters. section 7.3 section 7.0
When the finding is unwelcome
A consumer-goods company examined years of pricing, promotion, and sales records. After cleaning and combining the data, an analysis found that repeated discounts had encouraged retailers and customers to wait for lower prices, while overall purchasing volume fell. The result ran against the programs’ stated aim. Analysis can test a confident business assumption, not merely confirm it. section 6.4
The same ability to find patterns and anticipate behavior raises questions about who benefits. Retailers have used analysis to understand buying; social media companies use collected data to target content at scale. Data can also inform market oversight, as in analysis of competition around Google’s proposed Fitbit acquisition. None of these uses is inevitable simply because analysis is possible. You can ask what data an organization has, what it infers, and whether its actions serve the people represented in that data. section 1.3.3 section 2.5.1 section 4.7.2
