"Human history reflects our long--and by no means completed--ascent from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. Thornton illuminates the knowledge explosion which itself is a critical part of what we must know next."--Alvin Toffler, author and futurist

"Be forewarned: reading Thornton May's The New Know will make you think you've spent your whole life in Plato's cave, staring at shadows on the wall. But do not despair: Thornton will take you by the hand and guide you into the sunlight. There, you'll understand that we are bobbing in an ever expanding ocean of data, and that learning to analyze it is critically important--like learning to swim."--Lew Hay, Chairman and CEO of FPL Group, the nation's No. 1 producer of renewable energy from wind and solar power

Understand the critical competency of the age: business analytics

Today's high-performing organizations are dealing with diverse issues, a wider range of regulations, and heightened global competition.

So with all these issues, why embrace business analytics? Easy . . .

• The rules have changed

• Customer expectations have changed

• Regulatory expectations have changed

• Societal expectations have changed

• Performance expectations have changed

• Possibilities have changed

Futurist and leading IT communicator Thornton May makes a convincing case for why organizations need to find innovative ways to exploit technology and operate consistently better than their competitors.

We are standing at a hinge of history, on the cusp of entering a new age--the age of The New Know, an age when just showing up is not enough.

Both a time period and a social reality, The New Know is all about moving your organization beyond just having the data, to knowing what you need to know and when you need to know it.

The next big story, the headlines you and your team will be creating after reading premier IT communicator and futurist Thornton May's new book, The New Know, will be all about what can be known, what must be known, and, most important, what actions you will take because you know. This is the power of business analytics.

Revealing the analytics community as never before, May builds upon years of fieldwork to bring us a fascinating look at this community, which does important, exciting work affecting every aspect of your organization's life. This is a book about people you should know--and know about.

The first vernacular ethnographic and anthropological study of the analytics community, The New Know provides a map to the universe of analytics and puts the spotlight on the substantive and courageous work analysts do to make your company a better place.

This visionary book covers:

• What the art, act, and science of knowing really is

• The professionals at the beating heart of business analytics

• How the rapid rise in data, the brisk expansion of tools, and maturation of information management processes are changing various vertical markets

• How analytics creates measurable value

• How innovation happens in complex organizations today

While data analysis has been used in business since the dawn of the industrial era, number crunching was left largely to the statisticians. Celebrating the tools, processes, people, and practices of business analytics, The New Know reveals how to create information-based competitive advantage.

Learn to manage and grow successful analytical teams within your business

Examining analytics-one of the hottest business topics today-The New KNOW argues that analytics is needed by all enterprises in order to be successful. Until now, enterprises have been required to know what happened in the past, but in today's environment, your organization is expected to have a good knowledge of what happens next.

This innovative book covers

• Where analytics live in the enterprise
• The value of analytics
• Relationships betwixt and between
• Technologies of analytics
• Markets and marketers of analytics

The New KNOW is a timely, essential resource to staying competitive in your field.