Prescriptive Analytics.
How can we make it happen? - Advise on Possible Outcomes
From descriptive and predictive analytics, was born prescriptive analytics, which is basically exactly what it sounds like. Prescriptive analytics uses the knowledge gained through predictive analytics to build actionable, predictive models capable of prescribing healthier more robust and successful decision making strategies.
The relatively new field of prescriptive analytics allows users to “prescribe” a number of different possible actions to and guide them towards a solution. In a nut-shell, these analytics are all about providing advice. Prescriptive analytics attempt to quantify the effect of future decisions in order to advise on possible outcomes before the decisions are actually made. At their best, prescriptive analytics predicts not only what will happen, but also why it will happen providing recommendations regarding actions that will take advantage of the predictions.
These analytics go beyond descriptive and predictive analytics by recommending one or more possible courses of action. Essentially they predict multiple futures and allow companies to assess a number of possible outcomes based upon their actions. Prescriptive analytics use a combination of techniques and tools such as business rules, algorithms, machine learning and computational modelling procedures. These techniques are applied against input from many different data sets including historical and transactional data, real-time data feeds, and big data.
Prescriptive analytics are relatively complex to administer, and most companies are not yet using them in their daily course of business. When implemented correctly, they can have a large impact on how businesses make decisions, and on the company’s bottom line. Larger companies are successfully using prescriptive analytics to optimize production, scheduling and inventory in the supply chain to make sure that are delivering the right products at the right time and optimizing the customer experience.
Gartner describes prescriptive analytics as “the final frontier in big data, where companies can finally turn the unprecedented levels of data in the enterprise into powerful action.”