I have been following the recent IBM announcements on analytics closely and have been struck by the increasingly decision-centric point of view being expressed. First there was the business analytics and optimization announcement with its focus on "action support" not "decision support". The new analytic appliances with their focus on making it easier to make better decisions was next and now there is information-led transformation. This latest focus area talks about optimizing every transaction, process and decision at the point of impact, and without requiring that everyone be an analytical expert. Embedding executable analytics, predictive analytic models, into transactional systems (a key element of decision management) is clearly critical to this vision. Similarly the focus on "micro optimization" and on pervasive, predictive real-time decisions at the point of impact meshes well with Decision Management's focus on automating and improving micro-decisions.

This is great news for those of us focused on decisioning. Clearly the drive to make predictive analytics more pervasive and the need to make data-driven operational decisions is pushing more and more companies to consider decision management. Add business rules into the mix, to handle compliance and the last mile of automation, and the picture will come ever more clearly into focus.