Business analytics: new concepts and trends

Jasna Soldić-Aleksić; Biljana Chroneos Krasavac; Ema Karamata

doi:10.7595/management.fon.2019.0013

Jasna Soldić-Aleksić University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics
Biljana Chroneos Krasavac University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics
Ema Karamata University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7595/management.fon.2019.0013

Abstract

Research question: In the last decade, the concept of Business analytics (BA) has gone through revolutionary changes. It has gained a lot in popularity and attracted immense interest both in academic and commercial communities. Accepting this reality, the main research topic of the paper is to investigate and present the global tendencies regarding the development of business analytics concept. Motivation: We have been motivated by huge changes in ICT environment and have studied how they reflect on the domain of Business analytics. Idea: The main idea was to elaborate and make distinction between crucial characteristics of the classical and new emerging concepts of Business analytics. In addition to technical aspects, the broader business context of all presented concepts and phenomena are discussed. Findings: Dealing with essential elements of the BA concept, this paper points out that the history of Business analytics has been strongly influenced by the changes and innovations in the sphere of information communications technologies (ICT). In particular, the paper addresses two tendencies connected to the status of Business analytics in the digital economy. The first tendency concerns the emergence of Big Data phenomenon and its implications on both business and public environment. The other tendency concerns the increasing business request and need for data and analytics democratization. The paper concludes that specifically two forms of analytics – embedded analytics and self-service analytics – appeared as strong enablers of the process of data and analytics democratization. Contribution: Although a considerable part of the paper tackled the issue of the ICT trends and its impact on the business analytics, one specific part of the paper presents the broader business implications of data and analytics deployment. Our opinion is that this part provides a significant contribution to the BA topic. We demonstrate that there is strong evidence that one of the most important benefits that BA brings to the company is competitive advantage. Also, it is emphasized that the other big issue in business domain concerns the forms of BA deployment in the organization. We strongly support the opinion that successful BA deployment requires a clear data and analytics strategy, with elements of proposed ICT innovations and BA solutions.

Author Biographies

Jasna Soldić-Aleksić, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics

Soldić-Aleksić Jasna holds a position of Full professor at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade. Her main subjects of interest and research are: applied data analysis, business data management and software applications. She has gained research experience at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Central European University in Budapest, Limburg Business School, Belgium; Faculty of Management Science and Information Systems, State University of New York. She is a member of the following professional bodies: International Association of Statistical Computing, Statistical Association of the Republic of Serbia, Serbian Association of Economists, Serbian Marketing Association SEMA. She has published a number of books on the subject of applied data analysis and over 100 articles in the relevant scientific and professional journals.

Biljana Chroneos Krasavac, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics

Chroneos Krasavac Biljana, a PhD in Business Administration, was born in 1964 in Novi Sad. Ms. Chroneos Krasavac worked in numerous projects funded by the US Government, and/or the USAID. In August 2006, she was appointed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia as Serbia's Representative with the World Bank in Washington. In addition to the experience gained at the World Bank, she has also gained several years long experience by working for the Government in the capacity of Special Advisor to the Minister of Finance and Advisor to the Director of the Flood Affected Areas Assistance and Rehabilitation Office. Currently, she is holding the position of the Director of the World Bank project “Inclusion and Early Childhood Development“.