Special conference to focus on analytics as crucial competitive edge

Event to examine role of BI as critical advantage in global competition

CARY, N.C.  (Dec. 12, 2005)  –  Which analytic technologies will have the greatest impact on business over the next five years? How far and how fast will analytics drive global competition? How profoundly will business intelligence affect strategic planning processes at the world’s leading organizations? 

SAS, the leader in business intelligence software, is joining Harvard Business School Publishing and Intel Corp. to sponsor an event designed to help corporate decision makers understand the value of analytics as a lever for competitive advantage. 

Professor Thomas Davenport, author of the forthcoming January Harvard Business Review article “Competing on Analytics,” and Gary Loveman, the CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment and a former associate professor at Harvard Business School, will examine the increasingly crucial role of analytics at a special conference Jan. 17 at the Metropolitan Club in Manhattan. Glenn Wegryn of Procter & Gamble, an advocate for analytics-based management, will join Davenport, Loveman and other distinguished thought leaders to discuss the future of business intelligence in today’s ultracompetitive global economy. 

Davenport, President’s Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College and director of research for Babson Executive Education, recently conducted an extensive study of the use of analytics at 32 companies, including Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, Mars, UPS and the Boston Red Sox. Building on Davenport’s presentation, a panel of executives from organizations using analytics successfully – including Barclays, Harrah’s and Quaker Chemical – will share their practical knowledge and hands-on experience. 

Business intelligence capabilities and analytic prowess will play crucial roles in the most competitive sectors of the global economy, according to Davenport’s study. But an organization’s efforts to develop fact-based decision-making capabilities are likely to fail unless they are closely supported by top management, the survey shows. 

“This is a critical moment in the history of global competition,” said Davenport. “After years of sporadic progress, leading firms are basing competitive strategies on the sophisticated analysis of business data. These strategies are driven by CEOs and senior executives who insist on fact-based decisions throughout their businesses.” 

Davenport, whose newest book is Thinking For a Living (HBS Press), cites progress at organizations such as Capital One, Harrah’s Entertainment, Dreyfus, Procter & Gamble, Verizon and the NFL’s New England Patriots as clear signs of an accelerating trend toward greater reliance on analytic processes and technologies. 

“This strongly affirms the strategic value of analytics and business intelligence,” said Dr. Jim Goodnight, CEO and co-founder of SAS, the world’s largest privately held software company. “Organizations lacking integrated processes for analyzing data from multiple sources will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage as business intelligence solutions become more widely used. In the near future, fewer business decisions will be made on the basis of instinct and guesswork, and more business decisions will be made on the basis of facts and evidence.” 

For more than a decade, SAS and Intel have collaborated to develop and deploy SAS solutions on Intel-based platforms, helping solve real business problems like those cited in Davenport’s study. 

Please visit www.competingonanalytics.com for more information and details about registering for this special event. 

About Harvard Business School Publishing 

Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP) was founded in 1994 as a not-for-profit, wholly-owned subsidiary of Harvard University. Its mission to improve the practice of management in a changing world. HBSP does this by serving as a bridge between academia and enterprises around the globe through its publications and reach into three markets: academic, enterprise and individual managers. HBSP is based in Boston, with an office in New York City. Its business units are Harvard Business Review magazine and article reprints, Harvard Business School Press books, Harvard Business School Publishing Newsletters, Harvard Business School Publishing Conferences, Harvard Business School Publishing Higher Education, and Harvard Business School Publishing eLearning.

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