From Beer to Derivatives: The Evolution of Analytics in Business
David J. Fogarty
Author / Research Scholar
About the Author(s)
Dr David Fogarty has a BS in Inte ational Relations from the Connecticut State University, a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics from Leeds Beckett University located in the United Kingdom and also an MBA with a concentration in Inte ational Business from Fairfield University. He also has a post-graduate qualification from Columbia University in NYC. Dr David currently works at a Fortune 100 health insurance company as Global Head of Global Customer Value Management and Growth Analytics. At Cigna, he has a team of 150 analysts and is responsible for the Enterprise business analytics function for 200+ countries. Before Cigna, Dr David was most recently the Founder, President and CEO of a management consulting start-up known as Global Decision Sciences Company Ltd. which used highly skilled quantitative analysts from across the globe and the new concept of cloud computing to provide solutions to corporations which allow them to compete more effectively on the basis of analytics. Earlier in his career, Dr David worked for 20 years at GE Capital, the financial services division of the General Electric Company and have held various quantitative analysis roles across several functions including risk management and marketing both inte ationally and in the US. Between Cigna, Global Decision Sciences and the General Electric Company he currently has over 10 US patents or patents pending on business analytics algorithms. Since obtaining Ph.D. Dr David continued to collaborate with several universities and has over 50 published research papers in peer reviewed academic jou als. He has recently published three research papers in prestigious peer-reviewed academic jou als on how to use genetic algorithms to maintain consumer credit scores, how to most effectively use analytics offshore providers and how to use hybrid techniques of quantitative and qualitative research when analysing "BIG DATA". He also published a graduate studies textbook recently on advanced business analytics for developing a competitive advantage in collaboration with another professor. Dr David has over 10 years of teaching experience and has held various adjunct academic appointments at institutions like Trident University, Columbia University, University of Liverpool, Manhattanville College, University of New Haven, SUNY Purchase College, Manhattan College, LIM College, University of Phoenix, Chancellor University, Alliant University Inte ational and The Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. He is also an "Honorary Professor" of Financial Economics at the Madras School of Economics in Chennai, India and has done guest lectures in Asia at East China Normal University, Ivey Business School in Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong. Dr David also taught business analytics courses at the esteemed GE Crotonville Management Development Institute in Crotonville, New York. In terms of global community involvement Dr David is on the Board of Advisors for the Advanced Analytics Program at the Madras School of Economics in Chennai, India.
Synopsis & Scholarly Abstract
I was inspired to write this book after serving as a contributing author leading to a book title Analytics at Work where my friends and authors Professor Thomas Davenport, Jeanne Harris and Robert Morrison revealed how all managers can effectively deploy analytics in their day-to-day operations – one business decision at a time. The authors showed from the research which I participated in how many types of analytical tools, from statistical analysis to qualitative measures like systematic behavior coding, can improve decisions about everything from what new product offerings might interest customers to whether marketing dollars are being most effectively deployed. In their previous book. “Competing on Analyticsâ€, Davenport and Harris showed how pioneering firms were building their entire strategies around their analytical capabilities. Rather than “going with their gut†when pricing products, maintaining inventory, or hiring talent they showed that managers in these firms use data, analysis and systematic reasoning to make decisions that improve efficiency, risk management and profits. Davenport also wrote a follow-up article in the Harvard Business Review on doing proper experiments in business as I also used as inspiration for this book. Firms which do more experimentation instead of reacting and using too much gut feel can really make the continuous improvements which are required by their shareholders. Many managers fail to get this point. If the organization has a culture of testing then it will anticipate changes in the marketplace and test out possible scenarios. At GE Money I was responsible for testing and the goal was to not only increase the number of tests we do every year but also to measure the number of challengers we converted into true champions. Of course the drawback of this strategy is that if managers are conce ed with champions tu ing to challengers then we may not be taking enough risks. However, being GE we wanted to have measurable results of our ability to execute! At GE Money we would do about 5000 test per year and our challengers which eventually were tu ed into champions was > 25%. Of course, no testing in the world could have predicted the global financial crisis which eventually curbed GE Money's annual double-digit growth rates.