Sabancı Business School Hosted Business Analytics Workshop
Sabancı Business School hosted the first Business Analytics Workshop. The workshop took place on Friday, October 13, 2017, in the Cinema Hall.
The opening speech of the workshop was delivered by dean Füsun Ülengin from the Sabancı Business School . Ülengin began her remarks by noting the growing trend in business analytics. She stated that business analytics includes the ability to derive insights from data using techniques such as statistics, mathematics, econometrics, simulations, optimizations, or other methods to aid businesses in making better decisions.
Highlighting that real-world problems involve big data, Ülengin emphasized that analyses without big data are merely mathematical and statistical tools and applications. She added that business analytics combines big data and analytics with the computational power of modern computers to transform information into intelligence. "In this workshop, we decided to analyze the use of business analytics in different sectors and the application of new methods," she concluded.
Following the opening speech, the keynote address was given by Gül Ege, Senior Director of Advanced Analytics R&D at SAS. Gül Ege spoke about the Business Value of Advanced Analytics and Current Trends, providing examples from various business areas. She discussed the challenges of new data sources, the performance requirements of streaming data, and the importance of analytical capabilities to realize maximum business value from the potential created by data, technology, and computational innovations.
Gül Ege noted that analytical leadership creates a competitive advantage across all business areas. She said that the scale, nature, and speed of data growth make algorithms and technology critical due to the need for analytical innovations. She added that data-driven business decisions would need to be reviewed more quickly and in real-time.
In the first session of the event, titled "Marketing Analytics," Mustafa Gökçe Baydoğan from Boğaziçi University presented "The Power of Analytics: Two Applications in Ready-to-Wear," Barış Depecik from Bilkent University spoke on "Who Benefits from Brands Exiting the Market? Why?" and Birol Yüceoğlu from Migros gave a talk titled "Using Data Analytics for Predicting Customer Trends: A Case Study for an Online Retailer."
After the first session, the first software training was provided by BonAir.
In the second session, titled "New Methods," Cem İyigün from Middle East Technical University presented "Are Labels Informative Enough? Semi-Supervised Probabilistic Distance Clustering and Uncertainty Classification," Deniz Yenigün from Istanbul Bilgi University spoke on "Maximum Correlation and Variable Selection in Regression, Distance Relationship," Ece Egemen from Sabancı University discussed "Independent Agent Segmentation for the Insurance Sector," and Gökhan Göktürk from Sabancı University presented "Detection of Insurance Fraud: A Network Modeling and Behavior Analytics Approach."
After the lunch break, the second software training session was conducted by SAS.
In the final session, titled "Health Applications in Analytics," Kemal Kılıç from Sabancı University presented "A Decision Support System for the Contract Negotiation Processes of Health Insurance Companies," Mehmet Gönen from Koç University discussed "Identifying Significant miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Programs in Cancer Using Bayesian Reduced-Rank Regression," and Enis Kayış from Özyeğin University spoke on "Scheduling the Stochastic Operating Room with Historical Data."
The event concluded with the final software training session provided by TIMI.
During the conference, a competition was held where graduate students presented their projects as posters. The competition was won by Furkan Gürsoy from Boğaziçi University's Computer Engineering Department with his poster titled "Maximizing Influence in Social Networks Under the Deterministic Linear Threshold Model."
