Analytics Magazine Analytics Magazine, November/December 2014 | Page 56

Cor porate Profi le AOE has built up its expertise in big data by generating value in areas such as customer segmentation and retention, promotion optimization, cross-selling, pricing strategy and revenue management. experience led Burman, Schor and Gershwin to create AOE. By selecting top consultants with diverse academic and business backgrounds while rapidly building its clientele, AOE became a company whose achievements led to it being named to Inc. Magazine’s list of America’s fastest growing companies in 2002. While starting with an emphasis on improving supply chains, leaning production systems and solving routing problems, the firm eventually expanded its focus to other business issues that could be addressed with rigorous quantitative methods. Unlike boutique firms that specialize in specific verticals, AOE consultants apply their techniques to a wide variety of problems and industries. In recent years, AOE has built up its expertise in big data by generating value in areas such as customer segmentation and retention, promotion optimization, cross-selling, pricing strategy and revenue management. Regardless of the application, AOE’s projects remain focused on reducing working capital, improving the customer experience and increasing profits for its clients. Examples of Success Data mining for customer segmentation in retail. A big-box retail chain with terabytes of customer-purchase data wanted to know whether its marketing was helping the company’s profitability. AOE consultants spent six weeks analyzing