Local companies are missing a beat in not making better use of their data. They should see it as an asset that can add enormous value to their operations.

Its potential has been praised and its future made so bright that few in data don't wear shades, but it has also slid into a trough of disillusionment and insight is demanding the crown

Find out which skills are needed to build an effective data science team that can extract value from big data.

Attempting to find purposeful insights in data could be futile, unless you correlate those (often siloed) insights objectively.

Riding the data wave through the junk status storm is indeed possible, if companies learn from the past.

Prescriptive analytics attempts to identify what an insurer should do based on the result of descriptive and predictive analytics, says Kelly Preston, data analytics manager at SilverBridge.

South African companies still have a long way to go to realise the real benefits of data analytics.

Analytics increases business agility and responsiveness, and helps maximise the efficiency of business operations, says Gerald Naidoo, CEO of Logikal Consulting.

Organisations are powerless without data analytics.

Data assets need to be where they can drive revenue: at the customer coal face.

Turning data into information and putting it into the hands of the right people is key to maximising its value, says Mervyn Mooi, director of Knowledge Integration Dynamics.

A possible answer to SA's prisoner retention problems lies in the use of analytical software, says Bill Hoggarth, MD of SAS Institute.