Adaptive and intelligent systems in business: Book available

[Stein, Roger]

Members of the Santa Fe Institute mailing list may have already received
this.  Apologies...

SEVEN METHODS FOR TRANSFORMING CORPORATE DATA INTO BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
by Vasant Dhar and Roger Stein
Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1997. 

My colleague, Vasant Dhar, and I have written a short book on applying
intelligent and adaptive systems to business problems. It may be of
interest to some subscribers.   There are two versions of the book
available, one is suited to business people and one is suited to
teaching.

The book provides a practical methodology for mapping business problems
onto solutions involving neural networks, genetic algorithms,
nearest-neighbor algorithms, etc. We also provide extended case studies
of organizations that have successfully done this. 

The reaction to the book, in both the academic and professional
community, seems to be favorable: 

"Intelligent Systems are becoming vital at all levels of management from
the CEO to the foreman. Dhar and Stein provide one of the clearest and
most accessible treatments to date of the subject." 

	- Herbert A. Simon, Nobel Laureate 

"Seven Methods effectively bridges the gap between lofty technical
explanation and the down-to-earth business application of a brand new
world of modeling technologies." 

	- Win Farrell, Partner, Coopers and Lybrand 

A brief summary of the book follows: 

Seven Methods for Transforming Corporate Data into Business Intelligence
combines a thorough treatment of techniques for applying intelligent
systems to decision support with a practical framework for analyzing
business problems. Vasant Dhar (former Principal, Morgan Stanley and New
York University) and Roger Stein (Vice President, Moody's Investors
Service and New York University) present in clear and vivid terms the
essentials of modern decision support. 

Seven Methods takes a three stage approach to discussing these new
technologies. The book is organized around: 

* A framework for analyzing business decision problems and mapping
solutions onto them 
* An intuitive but full discussion of the technologies for data mining
and automated decision systems 
* A series of extensive case studies that show, using the framework, how
major organizations have made use of these technologies 

In addition to discussing technologies, Dhar and Stein introduce a
unified methodology for analyzing organizations' business problems and
evaluating potential solutions. 

This framework, based on the authors' years of combined experience
applying intelligent systems to real business decision problems,
encourages business people to think critically about how the strengths
and weaknesses of each technique relate to the particular dynamics of an
organization and its problems. The authors show not only when a
particular modeling method may be useful, but also when its attributes
might make it undesirable for a particular problem. 

The text does not limit itself to one or a few techniques, but rather
views various AI and database techniques as components of a toolbox
that, if used correctly, can make organizations dramatically more
intelligent. 

Seven Methods provides accessible detailed coverage of 

* OLAP and data warehousing 
* Genetic algorithms 
* Neural networks 
* Rule-based expert systems 
* Fuzzy systems 
* Case-based reasoning 
* Machine learning 

The text adopts an informal, conversational style in their exposition.
Despite the relaxed style, the book delves into the subtle aspects of
each technique while keeping the text readable and non-technical. 

In order to make the material more accessible, the text makes frequent
use of rich graphics. The graphical representation of complex concepts
are invaluable in elucidating these topics. 

To drive home the discussions of modeling techniques and organizational
dynamics, the book also provides extended case studies that show in
detail how the framework can be applied to analyzing the problems of
real organizations. 

Cases are taken from the experience of firms in a diversity of
industries solving an assortment of problems. 

Firms include: 

* US WEST 
* Moody's Investors Service 
* Compaq Computer Corp. 
* LBS Capital Management 
* NYNEX, Inc. 
* Kaufhof AG 
* A. C. Neilsen 

Problem domains include: 
* customer service 
* scheduling 
* data mining 
* financial market prediction 
* quality control 
* consumer product marketing 

The book is available from Prentice-Hall: 

(Professional version) Seven Methods for Transforming Corporate Data
into Business Intelligence, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1997.
(Academic version)  Intelligent Decision Support Methods: The Science of
Knowledge Work, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1997. 

Online Orders: www.amazon.com 
Phone: 1-(800) 643-5506. Please give the operator the following "key
code": E1001-A1(3). 
FAX: 1-(800) 835-5327.