Analytiikat

Analytiikat is the plural form of analytiikka in Finnish and refers to analytics as a field and set of practices for turning data into insights. It encompasses collecting, cleaning, modeling, interpreting, and communicating information to support decisions in organizations and research.

Analytical work is commonly categorized into descriptive analytics (summarizing past data), diagnostic analytics (explaining causes), predictive analytics (estimating future outcomes), and prescriptive analytics (recommending actions). Methods include statistics, data mining, machine learning, optimization, and visualization to reveal patterns and trends.

Applications of analytiikat span business intelligence, marketing optimization, customer analytics, risk management, healthcare, manufacturing, and public policy. They help organizations measure performance, forecast demand, detect anomalies, personalize experiences, and allocate resources more efficiently. In research, analytics support evidence-based conclusions and hypothesis testing.

The analytic process typically involves framing a question, acquiring and cleansing data, engineering features, selecting models, validating results, and deploying solutions. Ongoing governance, data quality, privacy, and ethics are essential, particularly under EU data protection rules. Common tools include Python and R for analysis, SQL for data access, and visualization or BI platforms such as Tableau or Power BI; data may be stored and processed in cloud environments from providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.