This Insights article was contributed by Dr. Stephen Hill, Assistant Professor of Business Analytics, Cameron School of Business
 
Detecting spam and malware.
Guiding autonomous vehicles.
Distinguishing between images of cats and dogs.
Predicting diabetes-related hospital patient readmissions.
Recommending the next show for you to “binge watch” on Netflix.
 
What do these seemingly unrelated things have to do with each other? Each of these tasks relies on analytics techniques and tools. These examples focus on the transformation of data into information, and then into insights and better business decisions.
 
Take, for example, a hypothetical algorithm that might be used by a service like Netflix to recommend a show or movie for you to watch. Data, in this example, might be the programs you have previously watched. A machine learning-based algorithm then uses this data, along with data from other viewers, to segment viewers into groups based on similar tastes and viewing habits.
 
With millions of customers, the amount of data in a setting like this is staggering, but modern analytics approaches can be used to identify relationships in the data, quickly deliver recommendations to users and improve the overall user experience.
 
Although the example above is from a large business with millions of customers, there are opportunities to implement analytics in your business regardless of its size. For example, you can use analytics techniques to identify profitable customers, develop employee schedules, forecast future demand, etc. Many of these types of analytics tasks can be completed with common tools, such as Microsoft Excel.
 
Analytics helps you anticipate client needs and deploy the right resources. Want to work smarter, not harder? Consider analytics degree and non-degree options in the Cameron School of Business.
 
The Swain Center at UNCW and our analytics training courses are perfect for individuals and organizations to enhance their skills. Prior participant comments include, “The UNCW Swain Center data course was absolutely fabulous. I learned a lot of basic features that I did not know about.”  Others have said, “It rocked, I would like to see more!” and “The training was streamlined and incredibly easy to not only understand but utilize in real-life applications.”
 
For more information on the Swain Center offerings, visit the Swain Center website.
 
The Cameron School of Business is excited to announce the launch of a master’s degree program in Business Analytics. This online program of 10 courses is tailored to working professionals who wish to develop their competitive advantage through cutting-edge analytics techniques and tools. It will be offered full- or part-time.  
 
Through an interactive exchange with faculty and classmates, MSBA students will gain the ability to apply the methods and skills covered in courses to solve realistic business analytics problems, understand and apply the techniques to collect and transform data and manage projects, and will become proficient at professional communication appropriate for target audiences such as upper management or analysts in other business units.
 
Click here to learn more.

Robert T. Burrus, Jr., Ph.D., is the dean of the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, named in June 2015. Burrus joined the UNCW faculty in 1998. Prior to his current position, Burrus was interim dean, associate dean of undergraduate studies and the chair of the department of economics and finance. Burrus earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in mathematical economics from Wake Forest University. The Cameron School of Business has approximately 60 full-time faculty members and 20 administrative and staff members. The AACSB-accredited business school currently enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate students in three degree programs and 200 graduate students in four degree programs. The school also houses the prestigious Cameron Executive Network, a group of more than 200 retired and practicing executives that provide one-on-one mentoring for Cameron students. To learn more about the Cameron School of Business, please visit http://csb.uncw.edu/. Questions and comments can be sent to [email protected].