Vision

Data analytics has become a primary driver of organizational decision-making in both academic and business communities. In particular, the rise of Big Data and overall increased organizational awareness of data analytics has influenced both researchers and practitioners to take greater interest in utilizing data-driven approaches for decision-making, strategy development, policy creation, and more. However, many challenges still exist that may reduce capability for organizations to create useful and practical outcomes from data. For example, the use of extremely vast or noisy data sets, nontraditional contexts, and real-world limitations may all play a role in reducing the effectiveness of analyses.

In many ways, academic and business communities must begin transitioning from a Big Data, catch-all perspective, to one of Smart Data and impact. Specifically, there is a need for increased emphasis on employing data-driven and analytics-based methodology for developing practical solutions to real-world problems.

The Actionable Analytics Lab within the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University is an applied academic research lab that provides rigorous solutions to relevant real-world problems. The lab’s mission is to bridge the gap between academic research and applied execution. Focus is placed on solving real-world problems of high societal impact and practicality — learn more about our research and who we are.