Big-data analytics impacts any organization economically, but often data scientists hope for benefits.The reality of where and how data analytics can improve performance varies across industries. Customer-facing activities- the greatest opportunities lie in telecommunications. Here, companies benefit by focusing on analytics models which optimize pricing of services, maximize marketing spending by predicting on where product promotions will be most effective, and identify ways for withholding customers. Internal applications- In industries, like transportation services, models focus on process efficiencies-optimizing routes. Hybrid applications- Some industries need both. Retailers use data to influence next-product-to-buy decisions and to choose the best location for new stores or to catch flows of products through supply chains. Companies operate along two horizons: capturing quick wins to build momentum while keeping sight of longer-term. Open data- swelling reservoirs of external data. Models are often improved combining these data with the existing ones for better business outcomes.. Read more at: