What can we learn from what other companies are doing to compete in a better, smarter, more analytic fashion - an approach the enables you to make bets that are against conventional wisdom? The authors of Competing on Analytics (Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris), speak to companies that are winning business in an unconventional fashion as a result of superior analytics.

Example 1: Progressive Insurance determined that motorcycle drivers were a market opportunity for them. Virtually all insurance companies shunned motorcyclists as bad risks. Progressive analyzed their customer data and learned that this overgeneralization was wrong. Many motorcyclists were in fact, a good risk, and the analysis of the data enabled Progressive to offer policies to the good bets and avoid the others. Before Progressive’s competitors knew what was happening, they had locked up the good part of the market.

Example 2: Best Buy knows - through the use of analytics — that 3 - 5 weeks after you buy a digital camera, you will have a desire for a color printer. If they time their promotion to the timing of your purchase, their chance to win that business goes way, way up.

While this is not rocket science, very few companies leverage their data to take advantage of these seemingly obvious insights. What are you doing to analyze your existing data to win business?