Predictive Analytics 2018 study: The end of guesswork

Norderstedt, June 8, 2018 – Predictive analytics is increasingly gaining in importance. What is more, most companies are satisfied, if not more than satisfied, with the analytics projects and cost-benefit ratio they have achieved so far. Nonetheless, there are limiting factors, such as the lack of IT specialists. “What is even more serious, however, is that decision-makers feel culturally overtaxed now that they have to rely on data rather than their own gut feelings,” writes Heinrich Vaske, Editorial Director of the journals “COMPUTERWOCHE” and “CIO”, in his foreword to the study “Predictive Analytics 2018” by IDG Research Services. The study involved a survey of 390 IT executives at companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Lufthansa Industry Solutions is a partner to the study and took part in a panel of experts.

Key questions and key findings

What importance does predictive analytics have for business development – today and in the future? What analytics methods are already being put to regular use in companies? What are the greatest challenges facing those who want to make their analytics projects successful and beneficial? These are just some of the issues covered by the study. An analysis brought the following key findings to light:

• The future belongs to predictive analytics

At present, only 47 percent of companies rate the relevance of predictive analytics as very high (18 percent) or high (29 percent). This looks very different, however, when it comes to the future. Two-thirds of companies assume that predictive analytics will be important or very important to them within the next three years. Only 14 percent of the companies rank its future significance as low to very low.

• Large companies leading the way with analytics projects

More than one-third of the companies have already implemented analytics projects, more than half of these in the area of predictive analytics. Especially active in this respect are large companies. The proportion of companies who have extensive analytics systems is twice as high as in SMEs.

• Companies make use of the results of predictive analytics for Business decisions

Overall, 94 percent of the companies use predictive analytics for better business decisions. The three most important areas of application are IT, management and production.

• High rate of success: well worth the effort

Six out of ten companies are very satisfied (23 percent) or satisfied (37 percent) with their predictive analytics measures thus far. For 58 percent of the companies, it has been well worth the expense, while 26 percent see the cost and benefits as about evenly balanced. According to those surveyed, a clear business case is vital to the success of these measures.

• Companies are putting their trust in external service partners for predictive analytics

The great majority of companies draw on the competence of one (35 percent) or several (41 percent) external service partners, especially for strategic (40 percent) and technical (32 percent) consulting.