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The user view: Business analytics software can help companies better model their outcome and assess predicted responses.

Business analytics software doesn't just help you understand what your customers want. It should help you make better decisions on internal operations.

If done well, the potential for return on investment can be significant.

High Street retailer Littlewoods uses statistical analysis software from SAS to improve its sales by analysing customer transactions, creating more effective marketing strategies.

"We've already seen substantial benefits where we could provide information to target marketing campaigns more effectively," said group IT director, David Hallett.

"We are trying to use it as a way of modelling outcomes and looking at predicted responses."

He says Littlewoods expects to make a return on its investment over three years, and is ahead of plan after only three months. "It started to pay back in a month."

The techniques can also be used to improve internal processes. Thames Water uses analytic software from Informatica to consolidate data from disparate operational systems, to better understand its business.

Jim Weir, Thames Water senior IT project consultant, says the software helps provide the company with a "single version of the truth".

"We can more easily assess information to make strategic decisions. It will also allow information to be shared across business functions so comparative analyses can be made," he said.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) uses SAS software to provide demographic research to 336 education institutions - about 2.5 million student applications a year.

Senior analyst Richard Coleman says UCAS has to provide information on 170 different variables, and creates 34,000 unique spreadsheets for universities.

"Analytical software is capable of going through all the statistics that could possibly be gleaned to determine the significant aspects of the data," said Coleman.

Government policies are encouraging colleges to meet criteria on the ethnic and social mix of students. UCAS is able to identify areas of the country that are under-represented in higher education, allowing admissions departments to target those areas.

Coleman says it's easy to produce data that companies must ensure is relevant to their needs.

"You need to know the corporate goals and what data is needed to support that. It's not only about analysing data, but disseminating the information people need in their daily routine," he said.

The BBC found an innovative use for business analytics. Peter Snow's famous election night "swingometer" is driven by SAS software, analysing historic voting behaviour and the results of exit polls and constituency elections to predict the possible outcome.

Additional reporting by Sarah Arnott