Most Analytics Opportunities Untapped, McKinsey

The application of analytics capabilities to business and other problems offers massive opportunity, and we've only just scratched the surface in realizing the potential. That's the high-level takeaway from McKinsey Global Institute in a new 136-page report, The Age of Analytics: Competing in a Data-Driven World.

The report updates another frequently-cited McKinsey report from 2011 -- noted for its predictions of major data science talent shortfalls -- adding recent developments and new trends such as the impact of machine learning and deep learning.

"We think data and analytics represent the single biggest opportunity available to management teams to create value, improve performance, and change the nature of competition," said Nicolaus Henke, global leader of McKinsey Analytics, in a prepared statement about the new report released this month. "The biggest barriers companies face in extracting value from data is adapting core processes and building new capabilities at scale. Embracing analytics is not about adopting a new tactic. It's about changing your business model and the fundamental way you make decisions."

[Read more of Jessica Davis's report on the McKinsey research on All Analytics.]