Kick off 2009 by predicting 2010

Let’s kick off this new year by predicting the next.
You may say, “Ba Humbug, a year’s too far ahead to predict.” Not true, fruitcake! For many businesses, predictive analytics rides upon seasonal cycles, learning from last year’s results […]

Let’s kick off this new year by predicting the next.

You may say, “Ba Humbug, a year’s too far ahead to predict.” Not true, fruitcake! For many businesses, predictive analytics rides upon seasonal cycles, learning from last year’s results in order to better target this year. Telecommunications and other subscription-based businesses face churn annually as contracts expire. And annual campaigns for seasonal mail-order catalogs – as well as some non-profits’ fundraising – are driven by last year’s results as well.

But, alas, Scrooge got it right for the most part. In most deployments of predictive analytics, immediate customer responses are predicted, or near-term customer attrition is targeted for retention. By predicting just in time, your business takes the optimal action with each customer.

Either way, whether one year or one second ahead, the value comes in foreseeing what’s yet to come, thus conjuring the “Ghost of Christmas Future”. Like a holiday present, if you predict it, you own it.

Check out these relevant case studies coming to PAW-09:

Telecommunications – churn: Telenor

Finance – reponse: Charles Schwab

Non-profit – fundraising: NRA