Machine Learning For Business

QTM6300 Machine Learning for Business
(Formerly Data Exploration and Analytics)
3 Blended CreditsThis course will examine the methods and challenges faced in turning data into insightful analytics in business. With data sizes significantly increasing in the last decade, extracting meaningful information to compete successfully is essential. You will accomplish this by learning techniques for data gathering, data analysis, and visualization as well as in discussion on companies currently trying to turn the information they gather into business opportunities. We will learn a variety of methods and software for finding patterns(such as regression, neural networks, association rules, CART, forecasting etc.), building models, and ultimately making decisions using large data sets. Guest speakers who are executives and consultants in the field of analytics and visualization will discuss how they address these challenges in their companies. This is a hands-on course with in-class exercises and group projects to help students learn and apply data analysis techniques preparing them for the practical challenges analysts face in the real world. We will address questions such as:

- How does Amazon recommend products based on your past purchases?
- How to forecast energy consumption based on historical weather and consumption data?
- How do credit-card companies detect fraud?
- What challenges does Big Data pose to companies and how to handle these challenges?