Data Analytics 101: Better Decision-Making With Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Data Analytics

Analyzing raw data to turn it into useful information that can help a company increase revenues, improve operational efficiency, and respond more quickly to market shifts and emerging trends, is the essence of data analytics.

Data analytics has given companies a sustainable competitive advantage, but not all data is the same. In this article we talk about the three types of advanced analytics and how airlines can benefit from them:

Descriptive Analytics

This type gives you a view of what happened in the past, such as how many people accessed an inflight entertainment system to watch a certain movie, or how many purchases of a product were made from an online marketplace while in the air.

This data provides the foundation for analysis and continuous improvement. For example, if an airline sees its passengers watch three movies more than other entertainment options, they can promote these movies over other films. With descriptive data, airlines can better measure the appeal and effectiveness of its entertainment catalog, ultimately increasing engagement and enhancing the inflight experience.

Measurement of performance and the value of content is easier. The data shows where the airline is strong and where it can make improvements, thus giving them a competitive advantage and the ability better understand passenger behavior.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics help you anticipate what will happen in the future, such as forecasting a traveler’s future purchases based on trends in buying patterns, or estimate how many travelers will choose popular, newer online games over traditional inflight games.

The need for airlines to better predict the fluctuating behavioral patterns of travelers is increasing – and it is proving to have a direct impact on an airline’s top-line revenue and bottom-line costs.

Improving the ability to detect and predict future behavior by analyzing early signs through integrated data analysis creates real value for airlines.

Prescriptive Analytics

This type of analytics enriches your knowledge with various sources and information models meshed together to make recommendations for more effective and faster decision-making. Data sources may include inflight media usage behavior, media consumption, surveys, and social media among others.

By using prescriptive data, airline management teams can make better strategic decisions for the future. The combination of structured data, such as numbers, and unstructured data, such as videos, text, and images, can give a management team keen insights into the future that awaits.

For example, data can show that passengers are increasingly ready to use a new type of technology. Without the right data, an airline cannot make decisions in confidence. And it will likely waste time, money, and effort, either doing the right things at the wrong time or acting as a “follower” instead of a leader.

But with prescriptive data, early indicators that are hard to detect, such as an emerging trend in changing traveler preferences, become more readily visible to management teams who are setting the strategic direction of the airline. Giving decision-makers true credibility.

To be a future leader in aviation, an airline must make the right investments in future-oriented technologies and applications today. Otherwise, it will inevitably fall behind. Taking advantage of these advanced analytics techniques helps ensure airlines stay on the leading edge of change.

Data analytics empowers you to see new possibilities.