Data Mining: What Is It and How Is It Used?

Data MInInG: WHat is it anD HoW is it UseD? By Barry Keating Data mining is a way to gain market intelligence from a huge amount of data … the problem today is not the lack of data, but how to learn from it … in data mining, the data tell the story, but it is up to you how to use that information. D D ata mining is used to search for valuable information from the mounds of data collected over time, which could be used in decision making. The information may be certain patterns and/or relationships that exist. With data mining, a retail store may find that certain products are sold more in one channel of distribution than in the others; certain products are sold together; certain products are sold more in one geographical location than in others; and certain products are sold when a certain event occurs. Wal-Mart, for example, has found that the sales of beer increase when a hurricane is imminent. This means that they have to hold more than the usual supply of beer when a hurricane is expected. With data mining, a financial analyst would like to know the characteristics of a company becoming insolvent; human resource managers would like to know the characteristics ...