Business Intelligence Data Mining
Business intelligence data mining describes software and practices
in which data mining applications and techniques are used for the purpose
of identifying business trends and data. Through business intelligence
data mining companies can identify key patterns in their customer and
other in-house data that may not be obvious through normal reporting. Business
intelligence data mining can also be used to create profiles of key
business metrics that can be used to help forecasting or to mitigate
risk.
Benefits of Business Intelligence Data Mining
Business intelligence data mining can provide a number of significant
benefits to an organization. Through business intelligence data
mining companies can create descriptive profiles of key business metrics. For
example, through business intelligence data mining a company might
build the profile of a customer who is likely to pay beyond 120 days
to help identify late paying customers before they become later payers. Through
business intelligence data mining companies can identify high risk
to the organization and put in place strategies and policies that can
help minimize or often even eliminate that risks. While the use
of business intelligence data mining in small businesses has not been
prevalent over the years due to cost concerns, there are new tools
in the market like EMANIO's Insight! business intelligence data mining
product that can provide most of the benefits of higher end tools at
substantially reduced prices.
Business Intelligence Data Mining Tools
There are a number of business intelligence data mining tools in the
market place but most can be classified in two areas. Enterprise
business intelligence data mining products are offered primarily by
two companies, SAS and SPSS. SPSS is by far the established leader
in enterprise-grade business intelligence data mining with their Clementine
product. The Clementine business intelligence data mining family
has a number of features that can help organizations better understand
their business. The biggest issue with business intelligence
data mining from companies like SPSS and SAS is cost - with most implementations
for such systems running well over $100,000 these business intelligence
data mining tools have traditionally been used only by enterprise organizations. New
tools are becoming available, however, from companies like EMANIO that
can provide many of the benefits of business intelligence data mining
for as little as $6,000.
Business Intelligence Data Mining and Data Warehouses
One tool that business intelligence data mining products often require
is the data warehouse. A data warehouse is used in business
intelligence data mining to help solve two critical problems. The
first is the problem of data availability. Since business intelligence
data mining tools need to perform very complex calculations on data,
IT managers have historically been hesitant to allow business intelligence
data mining software access to production databases like ERP or accounting
systems. By pooling the vital data into a dedicated database
(the data warehouse), this problems is eliminated. The second
issue that can impact the use of business intelligence data mining
has been the kind of data that is available. Specifically, not
all fields available in the ERP system for example might be good candidates
for business intelligence data mining. By creating a data warehouse
the IT department can export only the fields and data that is going
to be beneficial to business intelligence data mining, improving performance
and quality of results.
Business Intelligence Data Mining and Excel
For small businesses the question that is often unanswered is - what
about Excel? Microsoft Excel is by far the most used business
intelligence tool in small businesses and many organizations
want to use their excel spreadsheets for further
analysis. Until
recently business intelligence data mining with Excel
files was relegated to the world of enterprise organizations because
of cost. While
it may be feasible to build business intelligence
data mining algorithms into an excel spreadsheet,
the process would be horrendously tedious and time consuming. New
products, however, like Insight! provide users with the ability to
quickly and easily apply business intelligence data mining to their
excel data, giving access to sophisticated forecasting and risk mitigation
techniques to any size business.
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