{"id":1149,"date":"2019-07-01T15:08:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T15:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.test\/en-au\/blog\/?post_type=sage_glossary&#038;p=1149"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:40:26","slug":"what-are-predictive-analytics","status":"publish","type":"sage_glossary","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/what-are-predictive-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"What is predictive analytics?"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Glossary definition<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is predictive analytics?\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"What is predictive analytics?\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/what-are-predictive-analytics\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<p>Predictive analytics is a way to predict future events by discovering patterns in historical data. This advanced form of analytics could involve data mining, algorithms, statistical modelling techniques and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/what-is-machine-learning\/\">machine learning<\/a>. These can help CFOs to identify trends for more accurate planning, forecasting and decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-predictive-analytics-benefits-businesses\">How predictive analytics benefits businesses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Incorporating predictive analytics into quarterly or annual goal setting can benefit businesses in a variety of way. The biggest overarching benefit is giving greater insights that lead to making faster, more informed decisions. Predictive analytics can also leverage data to determine outcomes before they happen. This is especially useful in installing safeguards against intentional fraud and suspicious activities or innocent errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-where-to-apply-predictive-analytics\">Where to apply predictive analytics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Predictive analytics can be used in a variety of ways. Here are just a few instances of where you can use predictive analytics to lead to better, more accurate outcomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fiscal planning<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Risk assessment<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Forecasting sales<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Market analysis \/ optimising marketing campaigns<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Resource management<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice enewsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-84fe79b5-668d-41f8-a0cc-6229018c4ac9\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1181404518-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1181404518-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Predictive analytics is a way to predict future events by discovering patterns in historical data. This advanced form of analytics could involve data mining, algorithms, statistical modelling techniques and even machine learning. These can help CFOs to identify trends for more accurate planning, forecasting and decision-making. How predictive analytics benefits businesses Incorporating predictive analytics into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":708,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[312,315,327,188,189],"class_list":["post-1149","sage_glossary","type-sage_glossary","status-publish","hentry","tag-audit","tag-business-intelligence","tag-data-analysis","tag-expenses","tag-financial-insights"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice South Africa","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/1149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/sage_glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/1149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}