2.1 The Importance Of Statistics

Good decisions often start from good information. This is true within the business world as well. Some examples include:

  1. Warranties: Should you offer a warranty on your product? If so, how long should you make the warranty? What percent of your product will break before the warranty expires?
  2. Production: What is the expected demand for your product for next quarter? How much should you produce given the expected demand?
  3. Quality: Does the machine you use produce a high quality product? Are the specifications (e.g. length of ruler) close to the desired specifications and how close?
  4. Market Research: Who are your present customers? What are their attributes? What do your customers and the customers of competing products think of your product?
  5. Churn: What is the churn rate of your customers, and how often are they switching from your company to another for the same service?
  6. Risk Models: What is the risk of extending credit to an individual? What are the odds he/she will pay?
  7. Response Models: To whom should you mail for a mail out campaign, and who is most likely to respond?
  8. Etc.: Much, much, more.