K.V. Rao is spot on about his concern that enterprises have been left out in the cold with respect to historical data reporting that doesn’t answer the question of how the company is performing. Companies like Salesforce have introduced “Salesforce Wave” and the Analytics Cloud. Hopefully, these tools will give marketers a better means of understanding where their company is headed. As it stands, Rao feels that most top analytics vendors are too focused on making reports easier to read, as opposed to offering real information that allows companies to make better marketing decisions.

In a nutshell, more reports doesn’t equate to better insights. There are several areas of business that predictive analytics could better target:

• What prospects should be pursued?
• What prospects can I pursue later?
• What are the deals I should be focusing on right now?
• What customers are most likely to buy now?
• Which of my buying customers are likely to buy additional products of mine?

The reality is that marketers are tired of shifting through piles of endless reports. Analytics vendors that can provide the right solutions are the companies that will set the industry standard. Vendors that can’t are in danger of becoming yesterday’s news.