Data Mining: Your Opportunity to Create Actionable Intelligence in 2013

“Big Data” was the buzzword of 2012, and it’s here to stay. In fact, nearly every way you turn your head you will find examples of businesses, marketing specialists, and even the government attempting to align themselves with the best specialists to harvest usable information through what is known as “data mining.”

But what does this really mean, and why should you be interested in it? In this article we will explore what data mining actually is, as well as the ways in which it can impact you.

Data Mining Defined

In a nutshell, data mining (sometimes also referred to as data or knowledge discovery) is the process of collecting and analyzing data from various perspectives and then using that analysis to summarize it into useful and relevant information.

The objective of data mining is to organize big data in such a way that it can be utilized for various purposes such as increasing revenue, cutting costs, anticipating consumer needs, responding to electronic discovery (eDiscovery) requests, etc.

Ultimately, the process of data mining is one that is able to unveil correlations and patterns across multiple fields in large, relational databases.

Breaking it Down Even Further

In order to truly understand the concept of data mining, it is important that you first understand what “data” is. Basically, data is comprised of any facts, numbers, or text that can be processed by a computer. In this highly technological era, it is no wonder that individuals and organizations alike are accumulating vast and continuously growing amounts of data in a number of formats and databases including:

• Operational/Transactional Data -ie: sales, cost, inventory, payroll, accounting
• Nonoperational Data -ie: industry sales, forecast data, macro economic data
• Meta Data - data designed to describe the data itself ie: logical database design
• Miscellaneous Data - ie: social networking, e-mail, voice mail

Data mining is able to decipher patterns, associations, and relationships amongst all of these types of data in order to produce information. As an example, the analysis of retail transactions can provide insightful information as to which products are selling best, and when.

The information provided through informational mining is then able to be converted into knowledge of historical patterns and future trends. This knowledge can then be used to accomplish a number of goals ranging from improving company profits through analyzing how consumers respond to promotional efforts, to defending your business in litigation through organizing relevant data such as e-mail correspondences and invoices.

Data Mining Affects Everyone

Regardless of who you are, or what industry you work in, the process of mining big data is relevant to you. The organization and analysis of data is all-encompassing and can be used in any way that those who are seeking information see fit.

You may not realize it, but data mining has probably already crept into your life in some way. Have you ever received special offers from your credit card that seem to reflect your monthly spending habits? Have you ever noticed that the ad space on your social networking account seems to reflect your previous Google searches or key words used in your status updates? All of this is a result of mining for big data.

But informational mining can be used for so much more than simply influencing sales. The process can be used to find problem areas in business budgeting, improve the performances of professional athletes, formulate educated guesses with regards to population trends, make better decisions about which inventory should be stocked in business places, gather relevant information for court proceedings, and so much more. The sky is truly the limit when it comes to data mining.

How it Works

The process of mining for big data takes a lot more than a simple Google search. The internet is a truly vast and infinite place, and it is honestly only the tip of the iceberg. Although a great deal of information and data can be gathered and analyzed from online, there is still more information to be harvested from business computer servers and retail software programs that could be of significance.

Take Wal-Mart, for example. This mega-store monitors point-of-sale transactions from nearly 3,000 stores in over 6 countries in order to gather knowledge about consumer buying trends. This type of information mining cannot be accomplished without some serious help.

A large number of softwares have been developed in order to help businesses to collect, analyze, and organize information in such a way that it is useful for achieving operational objectives. A true software solution for mining big data will be able to reach out to every facet of informational stores (whether online or business internal) and integrate it into a logical sequence of relational data that is meaningful to your organization.

Are you taking advantage of what data mining can do for your business?

(Image: Wikipedia)

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