Part 5/12:
As the industry matured, organizations recognized the importance of upfront investment: understanding the problem deeply, piloting solutions, and gradually scaling successful models. The "ASM toote" (a metaphor for return on investment over time) highlights that significant gains require patience and foundational work.
Supply chain optimization was another early application area, where analytics helped streamline inventory and forecast demand effectively. These successes validated the ROI of data science early on, setting the stage for broader adoption.