Regression analysis is the “go-to method in analytics,” says Redman. And smart companies use it to make decisions about all sorts of business issues. “As managers, we want to figure out how we can impact sales or employee retention or recruiting the best people. It helps us figure out what we can do.”
Most companies use regression analysis to explain a phenomenon they want to understand (e.g. why did customer service calls drop last month?); predict things about the future (e.g. what will sales look like over the next six months?); or to decide what to do (e.g. should we go with this promotion or a different one?).