• As interactive and easy-to-use software becomes more common, more and more organizations are turning to predictive analytics to increase their bottom line and competitive advantage.
  • Predictive models use known results to develop or train a model that can be used to predict values for different or new data.

Predictive analytics is the use of data, statistical algorithms and machine learning techniques to identify the likelihood of future outcomes based on historical data. The goal is to go beyond knowing what has happened to providing a best assessment of what will happen in the future.

Predictive analytics can help businesses make stronger, more informed decisions. It can help identify patterns and trends within data that enable different business functions to make a probabilistic determination about future events.

1. Detecting fraud

Combining multiple analytics methods can improve pattern detection, identify criminal behavior and prevent fraud. As cybersecurity becomes a growing concern, high-performance behavioral analytics examines all actions on a network in real time to spot abnormalities that may indicate fraud, zero-day vulnerabilities and advanced persistent threats.

2. Optimizing marketing campaigns

Predictive analytics are used to determine customer responses or purchases, as well as promote cross-sell opportunities. Predictive models help businesses attract, retain and grow their most profitable customers.

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3. Improving operations

Many companies use predictive models to forecast inventory and manage resources. Airlines use predictive analytics to set ticket prices. Hotels try to predict the number of guests for any given night to maximize occupancy and increase revenue. Predictive analytics enables organizations to function more efficiently.

4. Reducing risk

Credit scores are used to assess a buyer’s likelihood of default for purchases and are a well-known example of predictive analytics. A credit score is a number generated by a predictive model that incorporates all data relevant to a person’s creditworthiness. Other risk-related uses include insurance claims and collections.

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5. Making sales decisions

Predictive analytics is essential for retailers who want to understand customer behavior and preferences. With insights into your data, you can make more informed decisions about product classification, pricing, promotions, and more.

6. Banking

Banks use predictive analytics to make more informed decisions about credit and investment products and even trade currency. Banking-related data sets form patterns that identify customers at risk of defaulting on a loan.

7. Consignment sales

The process of writing an insurance policy often uses predictive analytics. By analyzing data from past claims, insurers identify patterns that may indicate a higher risk of future claims. Armed with probabilities and predictions, they can adjust premiums for individual policies or groups of policies, or even deny coverage altogether.