In today’s data-driven business environment, predictive analytics plays a crucial role in helping organizations anticipate future trends, identify risks, and make informed decisions. SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) offers a powerful, user-friendly tool called Smart Predict, designed to automate predictive modeling, making advanced analytics accessible to business users and data scientists alike.
Smart Predict is a no-code/low-code predictive analytics feature within SAP Analytics Cloud that automates the creation, training, and deployment of machine learning models. It empowers users to build predictive scenarios without deep technical expertise, accelerating insights and driving better business outcomes.
- Automated Data Preparation: Automatically cleanses, transforms, and selects relevant features from datasets.
- Model Building and Training: Uses advanced algorithms to generate predictive models tailored to the problem.
- Scenario Types: Supports classification, regression, and time series forecasting.
- Model Explainability: Provides insights into key drivers and model accuracy.
- Integration: Seamlessly integrates with SAC dashboards and stories for visualization and further analysis.
- Classification: Predicts categorical outcomes, such as whether a customer will churn or not.
- Regression: Estimates numerical values, like sales revenue or demand forecasting.
- Time Series Forecasting: Projects future data points based on historical trends.
- User-Friendly: Designed for business users with guided workflows and minimal coding.
- Accelerated Analytics: Reduces model development time from weeks to hours.
- Improved Accuracy: Leverages SAP’s machine learning algorithms optimized for enterprise data.
- Actionable Insights: Integrates predictive results into SAP Analytics Cloud for decision-making.
- Flexibility: Supports a wide range of business scenarios across industries.
- Connect to your data sources, whether from SAP systems or external databases.
- Ensure the dataset includes relevant features and a clear target variable (the outcome to predict).
- In SAP Analytics Cloud, navigate to the Smart Predict area.
- Select the type of scenario (classification, regression, or time series).
- Upload or select your dataset and specify the target variable.
- Smart Predict automatically processes data and builds the model.
- Monitor training progress and review key metrics such as accuracy, precision, and recall.
¶ Step 4: Review and Interpret Results
- Explore model explanations to understand important features influencing predictions.
- Validate the model using test datasets or sample data.
¶ Step 5: Deploy and Use Predictions
- Integrate predictive outcomes into SAC stories and dashboards.
- Use predictions to guide business decisions, such as targeting high-risk customers or forecasting demand.
- Use clean, high-quality data for better model accuracy.
- Involve business stakeholders to define relevant target variables and features.
- Regularly retrain models with fresh data to maintain performance.
- Combine predictive insights with business context for actionable strategies.
Smart Predict in SAP Analytics Cloud democratizes predictive analytics by automating complex modeling tasks and delivering actionable insights rapidly. By leveraging Smart Predict, organizations can enhance forecasting, improve customer insights, and drive proactive decision-making—key advantages in today’s competitive landscape.