Applied Predictive Technologies
Encyclopedia
Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) is a software
company that provides business analytics
software to other businesses, along with support, training, and consulting services for its software. APT's clients include Starbucks
, Subway
, Royal Bank of Canada
, and more than 40 of the Fortune 500
across a number of industries. APT was founded in 1999 by Jim Manzi
, Anthony Bruce, and Scott Setrakian, who all came from a business consulting background, and was acquired in 2006 by Accel-KKR
, a private equity
firm.
rigorous test and learn
approach to business analytics
, in which proposed changes are tried out on a small scale and then analyzed before being implemented everywhere. This is an aspect of the larger trend of evidence-based management
, in which the scientific method
is applied to business decision making
. APT's software automates the cycle described by the Harvard Business Review
:
Other companies such as SAS
produce software that can be used for this type of analysis, but such packages are typically broader in scope, as they focus on general statistical analysis
instead of on test and learn experimentation specifically. APT's analytical tools also compete with market research companies such as Nielsen and Information Resources, Inc.
, and with internal analysis tools such as the experiment management solutions that have been developed within companies such as eBay
and CapitalOne. APT differentiates itself from competitors by offering a unique approach, emphasizing conducting tests to gather data instead of simply simulating
it. APT's software has been noted for its emphasis on ease of use in test design and analysis, and also for its ability to present both a high-level summary of a test and deep analysis of the specific attributes that affected performance in the test.
APT's Test and Learn for Sites software has been used for Wawa's tests on adding personnel, IHG
's tests on capital
upgrades and promotional offers, and Royal Bank of Canada
's in-market tests on distribution operations strategies. APT has also done work with Google
in analyzing the impact of online advertising
on bricks and mortar stores. A variety of further case studies are available at APT's website
.
s using the software as a service
model: companies connect to APT's web server
s using login
information provided by APT, the computations are run on the servers, and options and results are displayed in the user's web browser
. APT's current products include:
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
company that provides business analytics
Business analytics
Business analytics refers to the skills, technologies, applications and practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business...
software to other businesses, along with support, training, and consulting services for its software. APT's clients include Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
, Subway
Subway (restaurant)
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...
, Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...
, and more than 40 of the Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
across a number of industries. APT was founded in 1999 by Jim Manzi
Jim Manzi (political commentator)
James "Jim" Manzi is an American businessman and political commentator. He is currently the chairman and managing director of Applied Predictive Technologies, a business analytics software company, a contributing editor at the National Review, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a...
, Anthony Bruce, and Scott Setrakian, who all came from a business consulting background, and was acquired in 2006 by Accel-KKR
Accel-KKR
Accel-KKR is a technology-focused private equity firm focused on control investments in middle-market companies. The firm invests primarily in software and IT-enabled businesses...
, a private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
firm.
Software
APT's software takes a statisticallyStatistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
rigorous test and learn
Test and learn
Test and Learn is a set of practices followed by retailers, banks and other consumer-focused companies to test ideas in a small number of locations or customers to predict impact...
approach to business analytics
Business analytics
Business analytics refers to the skills, technologies, applications and practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business...
, in which proposed changes are tried out on a small scale and then analyzed before being implemented everywhere. This is an aspect of the larger trend of evidence-based management
Evidence-based management
Evidence-based management is an emerging movement to explicitly use the current, best evidence in management decision-making. Its roots are in evidence-based medicine, a quality movement to apply the scientific method to medical practice....
, in which the scientific method
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
is applied to business decision making
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
. APT's software automates the cycle described by the Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership among academics, executives,...
:
- Create a hypothesisHypothesisA hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
- Design a testDesign of experimentsIn general usage, design of experiments or experimental design is the design of any information-gathering exercises where variation is present, whether under the full control of the experimenter or not. However, in statistics, these terms are usually used for controlled experiments...
to gather information about the hypothesis - Execute the testExperimentAn experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
- Analyze the test to determine how successful it was and what factors explain performance differences
- Plan the rollout based on the analysis of the test
Other companies such as SAS
SAS Institute
SAS Institute Inc. , headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig...
produce software that can be used for this type of analysis, but such packages are typically broader in scope, as they focus on general statistical analysis
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
instead of on test and learn experimentation specifically. APT's analytical tools also compete with market research companies such as Nielsen and Information Resources, Inc.
Information Resources, Inc.
SymphonyIRI Group is a market research company which provides clients withconsumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and analysis focused on the consumer packaged goods industry....
, and with internal analysis tools such as the experiment management solutions that have been developed within companies such as eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
and CapitalOne. APT differentiates itself from competitors by offering a unique approach, emphasizing conducting tests to gather data instead of simply simulating
Simulation
Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
it. APT's software has been noted for its emphasis on ease of use in test design and analysis, and also for its ability to present both a high-level summary of a test and deep analysis of the specific attributes that affected performance in the test.
APT's Test and Learn for Sites software has been used for Wawa's tests on adding personnel, IHG
InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group plc is a global hotels company headquartered in Denham, United Kingdom. It is the largest hotels company in the world measured by rooms , and has over 4,500 hotels across over 100 countries...
's tests on capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
upgrades and promotional offers, and Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...
's in-market tests on distribution operations strategies. APT has also done work with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
in analyzing the impact of online advertising
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...
on bricks and mortar stores. A variety of further case studies are available at APT's website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
.
Products
APT sells a number of products, each focused on a particular area of analysis. Test and Learn for Sites was APT's initial product and is still the company's primary product. APT provides its products as web applicationWeb application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s using the software as a service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
model: companies connect to APT's web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
s using login
Login
Login is the method whereby a user obtains access to a computer system.Login may also refer to:*Magazines:** LOGiN, published by Enterbrain** ;login:, published by USENIX* Login, Carmarthenshire, an hamlet in Carmarthenshire...
information provided by APT, the computations are run on the servers, and options and results are displayed in the user's web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
. APT's current products include:
- Test and Learn for Sites, focused on analyzing remodelings, sales promotionSales promotionSales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotional mix. Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability...
s, pricing strategies, and other changes made at the store level - Test and Learn for Customers, focused on analyzing direct marketingDirect marketingDirect marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
and other customer offers - Network Planner, focused on analyzing construction and closure of stores
- Market Basket Analyzer, focused on market basket analysis
- Merchandise Optimization