Abstract
This opening chapter introduces Advanced Data Analytics, Machine Learning and AI in Business–Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Analytics in Practice (ICBAP 2025), Piraeus, Greece. The volume brings together selected peer-reviewed chapters from ICBAP 2025, held in Piraeus in August 2025. Across 40 contributions, the book captures where business analytics is heading: from dashboards and descriptive reporting to predictive, prescriptive, and AI-augmented decision systems. The chapters span generative AI, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), financial engineering, process monitoring, sustainability analytics, governance, and public health, with a consistent emphasis on methods that work in real settings. This chapter explains how the book is organised, highlights the main themes that connect the chapters, and helps readers see the bigger story—how analytics has moved from a technical service to a core part of strategy, operations, and societal impact.