Just in the past few years, the word “Analytics” has become extremely popular in the business world thanks to the rise of technologies like big data and social media. From SMBs to the enterprise, businesses have been measuring everything from video game players to Facebook reach with the latest cloud-based analytics platforms.
But did you know that business analytics have existed since the stone age? History suggests that the earliest humans would use sticks and stones to help predict sales trends of new inventions.
It wasn’t until the late 1800’s though, that the industrial age brought along business management as a scientific discipline. Henry Ford would apply this principle to his then brand new Ford Model T assembly line to measure component assembly times.
As technology progressed throughout the mid-20th century, computers played a huge role in the advancement of business analytics with the introduction of Decision Support Systems in the 1970’s. Data warehouses also became popular during this time to help organize large amounts of data, the first iteration of today’s server farms. Up until the 21st century, most analytics were applied to the upper levels of enterprises and corporations.
Then the internet, big data and the cloud came along. With the massive amounts of data being generated every day, analytics have become accessible and affordable to businesses of all types and sizes. Business analytics have become so complex and advanced, that we can now use them to help predict future trends and behavior in real-time. So where does the future hold for analytics?