Briefs

By Barney Beal, News Editor, 24 Feb 2005 | SearchCRM.com

From text mining to querying to performance management, the breadth and complexity of analytical tools make it a difficult market to characterize. Bob Blumstein, research director for CRM analytics and marketing applications with Framingham, Mass.-based International Data Corp. is giving it a go nonetheless.

He suggests breaking analytics into two groups -- core analytics and predictive analytics. According to Blumstein, core analytics are used to define or analyze a current or past state, and include tools and packaged applications that compute frequencies, cross tabs and reporting cubes. By Blumstein's definition, predictive analytics, on the other hand, are more complex and are used to determine the probable future outcome of an event or the likelihood of a current state where it is unknown.

Blumstein is predicting the predictive analytics market will surge. An IDC report projects that the sector will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8% during the next five years.

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