Sometimes we wish we had a crystal ball. In business, we do: predictive analytics. The process combines technology, business practice and user experience. It allows the user to determine “what the future may hold and do it with confidence,” Jane Hendricks, marketing manager for Predictive Analytics at IBM, told theCUBE during IBM Vision 2015.

A team sport approach

What used to be relegated to experienced data scientists deep in the back office is now being used by a range of employees. “It’s more of a team sport approach,” said Hendricks. “People can gather data, apply the math to it, and business users suggest ways to make it better. All of these folks work together to apply this technology.”

“The tools allow people like me to play with the data in ways that I never could before,” Hendricks continued. “It goes beyond reports to actually find meaning and build models that I can take to an expert, and it’s not throwaway work.”

Using her own crystal ball, Hendricks believes that even more people will become predictive analytics users over the next few years. “We won’t have this fear of data,” she said. “Everybody will be a predictive analysts in some away.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Vision 2015.