The Harvard Business Review recently hosted an interactive webinar around Analytics 3.0. The webinar featured Tom Davenport, author of "Competing on Analytics", "Analytics at work", and the recently released "Keeping up with the Quants".

In the webinar, Tom introduces us to the concept of Analytics 3.0. If Analytics 1.0 is traditional analytics and Analytics 2.0 is big data, then 3.0 is the measurement of combining traditional analytics with big data.

Data isn't just about reporting on the past anymore. Its being used to increase bottom lines and entire companies are being created on the collection of huge amounts of data.

A great example of this is Radian6 (acquired by Salesforce in 2011). By analyzing large quantities of data available on the internet, Radian6 was able to perform social media monitoring by scanning blogs and social media sites to see and hear what customers were saying about brands and deliver that data in real time reports.

The next wave of analytics is all about prescriptions; telling people what to do and using analytics to do it. All types of data and a combination of them is what Analytics 3.0 is made of; Text messages, social networks, emails, device sensors, lead capturing devices, twitter, crm, videos, etc. Optimization is a great example of Analytics 3.0 at work.

What does this mean for marketers? It means better decision-making based on data. For us, we are bringing Analytics 3.0 to marketers who include events in their marketing mix. Many marketers don't have an automated way that allows them to decide, measure and evaluate whether they should invest that $50,000 spend into event A, or spend the $100,000 sponsoring event B that's promising great exposure and opportunity. How do you know if it's really worth the investment? Employing Analytics 3.0 will not only analyze a combination of your data but also decide whether or not you should do that again.

We'd love for you to share your story on how you decide whether to invest in events or not. What is your best practice to measure the ROI? Sound off below in the comment section.

For more insights from Tom you can visit his website tomdavenport.com