Of course, businesses would not be drawn to such analytics services if they did not bring financial rewards. Logica benefited in this respect too.
Cano explained: "We've been able to maintain our margin, group wise, at the same level as we had last year, which considering everything that has been happening, it is unheard of.
"The cost of what we had previously, with running and maintaining costs, were higher than the running and maintaining costs we have now. It has made a significant difference to us."
Predicting the future
Predictive analytics could have helped many firms be better prepared for the downturn and some may wish they had invested in them prior to the crash.
"There is more value in predictive stuff rather than the retrospective stuff," said Andreas Bitterer, an analyst at
However, predictive remains a small segment, Bitterer told IT PRO. As companies need special skills and technology for this type of analytics, firms are not flocking to them, he added.
Old tech is bad tech
The fact that some organisations are afraid to invest in this kind of new technology, which could offer significant business value, is a concern. Leveraging analytics tools such as these may prove the difference between surviving another economic meltdown, or other unforeseen eventualities, and not.
In an interview with IT PRO, Jackie Anthony, business optimisation consultant at Logica UK, summed up how staying in the past can be a hindrance to future development.
"You can no longer afford to rely on Excel to manage your performance. If you want to succeed, if you want to take advantage of opportunities out in the market place, you need to inspire people to commit to your strategy and understand your strategy," she said.
"You need to give them the technology so they are not working 24/7 to actually deliver on that."
