Machine learning operations typically rely on quality data to train algorithms. If you are an online retailer, you may look at a customer's past purchases and browsing history and demographics to predict what the "next best offer" should be. The historical data you have collected about customers fuels the algorithm and insights on what your customer is most likely to purchase next. But while this approach is predictive, it can't let you look at events that haven't happened yet. Just because your customer bought that item every three months doesn't mean they won't find something different to buy in the future or they won't behave differently if the price goes up or down.