Introduction to Business Analytics and Information Economics

This specialization targets learners who seek to understand the opportunities that data and analytics present for their organization and those interested in the value of and implications for data as an asset to their organization. Individuals who manage data and make decisions about how data can be leveraged in their organization will find this specialization of particular value. Businesses run on data, and data offers little value without analytics. The ability to process data to make predictions about the behavior of individuals or markets, to diagnose systems or situations, or to prescribe actions for people or processes drives business today. Increasingly many businesses are striving to become “data-driven”, proactively relying more on cold hard information and sophisticated algorithms than upon the gut instinct or slow reactions of humans. In this information age, the value of data as a business asset is essential. Organizations must creatively consider and implement new ways to generate economic benefits from the wide array of information assets available. Unfortunately, information frequently is under-appreciated and underutilized. Besides, accounting practices fail to recognize the financial value of information, and traditional asset management practices fail to recognize information as an asset to be managed with earnest discipline. This has led to a business culture of complacence, and the inability for organizations to leverage available information assets.