When making choices that can lead a business to its boom or its doom, it’s critical to have a working knowledge of the latest tools of the trade. Now, two dedicated business analytics laboratories at Ithaca College will provide students with hands-on experience to help them thrive in a world that relies on data to drive innovation.

The endowment to create the lab spaces, which opened this fall in the Roy H. and Dorothy D. Park Center for Business and Sustainable Enterprise, was established by John J. Neeson ’84, a graduate of the School of Business and an authority on business-to-business marketing and analytics. Neeson’s gifts support the creation of the Neeson Business Analytics Lab and the Neeson Digital Marketing and Analytics Lab, and establish the John Neeson ’84 Endowed Software and Database Fund to support software updates and future upgrades to the Neeson Business Analytics Lab.

While it is common to find educational resources such as virtual trading rooms in business schools across the country, IC’s School of Business will be among the very few institutions (and the first of its size compared to far larger competitors) to offer lab spaces fully dedicated to the study of analytics.

“In my world, we look to see why companies are growing,” Neeson said. “Analytics has been the fastest-growing area in business over the last seven years, and understanding analytics gives businesses an edge, as they can be more precise in their actions. The digital marketing and analytics labs will give students the skills businesses are looking for today.”