As business analytics and predictive analytics took root in the enterprise over the past year, businesses gained the capacity for a clearer vision of their customers' future demands. While this is a great boon in terms of allowing companies to focus their energy on specific opportunities and results, it is also a potentially tumultuous development for IT departments, writes Bob Evans at InformationWeek. 

During 2010, analytics software shifted from "arcane and specialized niches into mainstream tools that every business will be using more aggressively, more broadly, and more strategically," Evans writes. For IT groups to keep up, they will have to view these applications not so much as technical functions but as an avenue for company growth and customer outreach. This change in perspective will become even more crucial next year, as companies discover the increasingly vital role of analytics in enabling them to remain competitive. 

The impact of analytics applications in businesses will become much more widespread next year as well, Evans predicts. The tools will be used in a wider range of business units as well as in a wider range of devices. What's more, the tools will be applied on much larger and more sophisticated data sets than ever before, with the goal of achieving results almost in real time.  

For more, see:
-Bob Evans' column at InformationWeek

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