Prescriptive analytics: Literature review and research challenges

•This article focuses on prescriptive analytics, which is the less mature area of business analytics in comparison with descriptive and predictive analytics.•Prescriptive analytics are positioned as the next step towards increasing data analytics maturity and leading to optimized decision making ahead of time.•The existing literature pertaining to prescriptive analytics is reviewed and prominent methods for its implementation are examined.•The article identifies research challenges and outlines directions for future research in the field of prescriptive analytics.