What action to take? Organisations may know the answer to this anecdotally, but a prescriptive model will take all the data available and provide outcomes based on scenarios.

Predictive analytics has a number of uses, from fraud detection, operational improvement and customer segmentation. It is a very powerful tool, but it requires a strong foundation of accurate, well governed data capture, and a strong organisational culture of analytical best practices.

Context is key, creating that fuller picture in data allows organisations to discover the reasons behind why certain events are happening and brings them closer to data driven decision making.

‘What happened?’ Simple question, right? No, not always. If there is no accurate data captured on an event, there is no way of knowing what happened. We may know anecdotally what happened based on experience, but small, but crucial details may go unacknowledged.

Organisations will often say ‘I want to become more insight driven, but I don’t know where to start.’ Like any journey, it starts with the first step. Not necessarily where are you stepping to, but where you are stepping from. That will determine what the rest of the journey looks like.