Business Analytics: Radical Shift or Incremental Change?

Business analytics systems are seen by many to be a growing source of value and competitive advantage for businesses. However, it is not clear if increasingly advanced analytical capabilities create opportunities for radical change in business or just represent an incremental improvement to existing systems. What are the key questions that researchers should be focusing on to improve our understanding of analytics? And are Information Systems (IS) programs teaching students the right things to be successful in this environment? This panel at International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2012 took stock of technological possibilities, practical experience and leading research to assess the current state and future direction of business analytics. In doing so, it brought together senior researchers and industry representatives to share the leading challenges, opportunities and good practice that they see.