For more details about how we approach analytics and how analytics can drive business impact, download analytics whitepapers from here.

FORBES: To Centralize Analytics or Not, That is the Question

Plus their analytics-supported approach also enabled Gemvara to track design favorites and buying patterns to keep honing what it offers and how, thus growing their customer base and per-customer sales while honing customer service, based on the knowledge of how customers want to be served.

FORBES: Finally an Enterprise Roadmap for Capturing the Full Power of Social

The traditional business school approach driven by analytics, forecasting and spreadsheet business modeling has lost its momentum.

FORBES: Entrepreneurship Isn't Just a Business Term Anymore; It's a Way of Life!

And outside the open source search domain, companies like Rosslyn Analytics have developed a platform approach to complex data integration problems.

FORBES: How HP Could Have Saved Itself $10 Billion (And Its Share Price From Falling)

OpenGamma used the open source approach to provide a risk analytics platform to financial institutions.

FORBES: Four Questions (And Answers) About Open Source Software In Finance

Can a boots-on-the-ground ethnographic approach complement technology as sophisticated as data analytics?

FORBES: Connect

When applied to the PCMH team approach to health care delivery, data analytics have been proven to significantly reduce emergency room visits and hospital re-admissions.

FORBES: Health Systems Spending Billions to Prepare for the "Last Battle"

While surely not as sexy as Social and Business Analytics and Cloud, this bold decision to take an entirely new approach to IT infrastructure is the one and only way CIOs can unlock the funding necessary to pursue those snazzier and unquestionably vital new initiatives.

FORBES: The Top 10 Strategic CIO Issues For 2013

And yes, analytics when done right, is a structured process ( BADIR is one such approach), is learnable by most business professionals and the analysis part is doable in MS Excel.

FORBES: 4 Steps to Turning Big Data into Business Impact