Data Analytics - for the systematic use of data in management decisions

"Everyone should have the capability to learn from the data. It has the same impact on companies as had personal computing back in the 1980s" (Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft)

The Big Data concept is on everyone's lips - but what benefits do growing data volumes, ever-increasing computer performance and innovative analytical approaches really have for management decisions? At the Chair of Management we are dealing with this question in a number of studies and applications.

Today the most valuable companies in the world derive much of their competitive advantage from the intelligent use of data about their customers. Existing data sources and their potential increasingly drive company valuations. At the same time, in particular small and medium-sized companies face a major challenge. Targeted data collection, data cleansing and data evaluation requires a number of skills in IT, stochastics, mathematics and business administration.

As part of our research, we want to understand the opportunities and limitations of Big Data for management decisions. In particular, we currently focus on the following questions:

• What is the current status of data-driven management decisions in small and medium-sized enterprises?
• What are the potentials of Big Data approaches for small and medium-sized companies?
• What are the success factors for the implementation of Big Data projects in companies?
• How can Twitter texts be analyzed in order to draw conclusions about the authors of the tweets (e.g. with regard to their mood)?

Currently the following concrete questions arise in practical studies and industry cooperations:

• How can predictions of future customer behavior be made on the basis of customer data in case of influential seasonal fluctuations?
• How can customer churn be predicted when there are only few points of contact between customers and vendors?
• What possibilities do online tracking systems and external data sources (such as Google Maps) offer for creating a better understanding of customers?