Center for Business Analytics & Applied AI

Connecting business organizations, professionals, students, and faculty to educate and to exchange ideas on gaining competitive advantages from data

The importance of data and analytics

The OSU Center for Business Analytics and Applied AI accomplishes its goals through company-sponsored projects that pair our expert faculty with upper level students, community training, symposia and sponsored faculty research. Our focus is on applying analytics technology such as data/text mining, data visualization/exploration, predictive modeling and optimization — to identify opportunities and to provide solutions.

We develop and deliver executive training events such as boot camps and workshops to facilitate the expansion of expertise in using applied AI and analytical methods to translate organizational data into business opportunities. The center also leverages the experience of faculty and students from different disciplines to create data-driven solutions to issues confronted by organizations.

Two people working on data reports

Faculty, Student & Industry Collaborations

Supply Chain/Operations Analytics

Daimler: MBA students worked with Daimler Trucks North America, the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America. The students analyzed Daimler's manufacturing data and developed recommendations to optimize efficiency and remove bottlenecks as it expands product lines.

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OSU MBAs also worked with Daimler Trucks North America by examining data to discern failures in concurrent parts production in order to create predictive models and avoid post production failures and high warranty claims.

PGE: PGE, a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, tasked College of Business students with proposing optimal locations for mobile electronic car charging stations based on when and where usage was high. The goal, through analyzing large data sets and synthesizing key data constructs, was to mitigate excessive peaks in electrical usage that diminished power for other customers.

Marketing Analytics

Burgerville: MBA students partnered with Burgerville, a popular Pacific Northwest restaurant chain, to transform its ordering process into a business opportunity with the aim to increase sales, guest frequency, customer satisfaction.

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PGE: In an ongoing project with PGE, we are providing an enhanced understanding of the customer experience with this major Pacific Northwest utility by conducting textual analysis across social media data and survey data. We're comparing results from the text analysis to identify ways to improve methods used to conduct the survey, and we're constantly mining and incorporating data into the survey creation.

Students are also working with PGE to analyze the effects of microclimates and weather patterns on power usage and develop a predictive model to forecast the location and time of weather-related outages.

CDK Global: Our students worked to augment the customer retention strategies of this integrated information technological and digital marketing company by identifying customers who may be prone to leave for a competitor. We identified customers more likely to discontinue three months in advance of their departure, giving CDK Global enough time to devise and implement strategies focused on customer retention.

Starbucks: College of Business students worked with Starbucks, the nation's largest coffee provider, on two projects. In the first, students analyzed the customers’ use of the Starbucks app to determine their intentions to buy products based on the initial steps they took upon opening the app. Using predictive analytics, students could identify the products customers sought in order to create unique cross promotional offerings and thereby increase purchases within the app.

In the second project, students developed solutions to keep existing employees and react to unavoidable employee absences and departures.

Cairn: Cairn is a Bend, Oregon-based company that provides a subscription "package service" — a recurring delivery of new and trending outdoor and recreation products and gear. For Cairn, we analyzed data and helped identify the best outdoor packages for customers and monitored their satisfaction level post-purchase. The outdoor recreation business in Oregon is booming: As of 2019, it supported more than 224,000 full and part-time jobs in the state and generated more than $9 billion in wages and compensation.

Healthcare Analytics

Samaritan Healthcare: For Samaritan, a regional leader in healthcare with 250,000 clients, we took on a project to reduce ER costs and hospitalizations. We analyzed patient and medical resource data related to higher levels of ER usage, and identified opportunities and protocols for enhanced patient care that preempts repeat hospitalizations and minimizes costs related to ER visits. Based on these circumstances, we also could propose solutions to conserve resources and save millions of dollars in costs.

HR/Human Analytics

CDK Global: Similar to our work with CDK Global for customer retention, we created a classification model to identify valuable employees with a higher risk of leaving the company months before they moved on. This gave the company and the human resource department time to create stronger retention programs and reduce recruitment costs.

Center Project Partners