Analytics conference highlights growth of analytics in business, government decisionmaking

Business analytics, which has received plaudits from Harvard Business Review, Gartner, and Accenture for aiding better decisions at organizations, will be the focus of a conference hosted by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®). The conference focuses on ways that successful organizations use quantitative methods to analyze massive amounts of data.

The INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & Operations Research takes place at the Marriott Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile from April 10-12.

The conference highlights will include keynotes by thought leaders in business and government:

• Business: UPS Vice President of Engineering Chuck Holland. Chuck Holland, vice president of industrial engineering, UPS, will serve as a plenary speaker. During his discussion, he will review strategies to help organizations with business problems that will help improve operating effectiveness. Holland will tap his 34-year career in engineering, operations, and technology to provide senior decision makers with the tools needed to remain competitive in the marketplace
  
• Government: Shelley H. Metzenbaum, White House Office of Management and Budget, Associate Director for Performance and Personnel Management
  
• Details about speakers are at http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2011/speakers.html

• A high level panel on growing an analytics capability in an organization hosted by Computerworld columnist Thornton May Thornton May.
  
• An Executive Forum with speakers from Best Buy, Gartner, SAS, Sirius XM Radio and representatives (tentatively) attending from Bank of America, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cisco, Deloitte Consulting, IBM, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Walmart/Sam's Club
  
• The annual Franz Edelman Award competition, this year featuring teams from CSAV, Fluor Corporation, The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, and the State of New York Department of Taxation (details are at http://www.informs.org/About-INFORMS/News-Room/Press-Releases/2011-Edelman-Finalists)

Provided by Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences