Data mining tools can collect and analyze data much like a human, only much faster. Learn what data mining is, how it works, and how to use it effectively.
Data mining is an important big data management strategy that is growing in importance, especially as organizations realize just how many patterns and problems data mining operations can uncover in their datasets. In this guide, you’ll learn what data mining is, how it works, and why it could be the next data management strategy you need to incorporate into your organization.
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What is data mining?
Data mining is used to identify patterns, correlations, and anomalies in large data sets for data analysis. This helps transform raw data into actionable information to make informed business decisions, predict outcomes, and develop business strategies.
Although the term “data mining” was not coined until the 1990s, data mining techniques were used long before that. As the quality and complexity of the data increased, software applications were used for data mining. The potential of data mining continues to increase with technological advances in computing power and the enormous potential of big data.
Benefits of data mining
Data mining helps organizations analyze large amounts of data and derive useful insights that enable an organization to become more efficient or more profitable. With the increasing complexity of data and the amount of data available to an organization, data mining offers a semi-automated way to process large data sets.
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A company can make informed decisions and improve its strategic planning by uncovering data patterns, data anomalies and data correlations. Executives can also use data mining to reduce legal, financial, cybersecurity, and other types of risk to the organization.
How data mining works
Data mining involves examining and analyzing large amounts of data to derive meaningful trends, relationships, and patterns. Data mining software solutions are versatile tools that can be used for various goals and functions such as fraud detection, customer sentiment analysis, and credit risk management.
Although data mining can be used in a variety of ways, the process involves some common steps. The first step is to collect and load the data. This step is followed by the preparation of the data using methods such as data cleansing or data transformation.
Once the data is prepared, it can be mined. Computer applications with data mining algorithms are most commonly used to perform data mining. From there, data mining results are often translated into visual or statistical representations for further analysis.
Different types of data mining
There are several types of data mining techniques that companies can apply to their big data. The right data mining technique depends on several factors, including the type of data and the goal of the data mining project. Here are some of the most common types of data mining:
affinity grouping
Data items with the same characteristics are grouped. For example, customers who share the same purchase intent, interests, or goals can be grouped together. This type of data mining is also known as clustering.
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Predicting data values based on a set of variables. This type of data mining is often used to find relationships between data sets.
Neural Networks
Computing systems inspired by biological neural networks like the human brain. The algorithms in neural networks are useful for detecting complex patterns in data.
association rule
Association rules are established to determine the relationship between data items. This includes the determination of co-occurrences and patterns in data.
Data Mining Examples
telecommunications and media
Several industries use data mining, including telecom and media, where it is commonly used to analyze consumer data. These companies use data mining to map customer behavior and run highly targeted marketing campaigns.
insurance
Similarly, data mining is widely used in the insurance industry, where it helps companies solve complex problems related to compliance, customer loss, and risk management. Health insurance companies use data mining to map the patient’s medical history, test results and treatment patterns. This helps them to develop and implement an efficient health resource management strategy.
manufacturing
Data mining is also used in the manufacturing industry to align supply chains with sales forecasts and to identify future problems early. Through data mining, manufacturers are able to anticipate maintenance work and predict the depreciation of production facilities.
banking
Finally, the banking industry uses data mining algorithms to detect fraud and other anomalies in their data. Data mining helps banks and other financial institutions achieve optimal ROI on marketing investments, meet compliance requirements, and gain a better view of market risks.
