INTELLIGENCE ADVANTAGE MAKE BETTER DECISION

Data mining is a process of extracting and discovering patterns in large data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Wikipedia

Data mining uses software to look for patterns and trends in large amounts of source data – using a broad range of techniques to find exceptions, variances, inconsistencies, patterns, trends and parallels and then extrapolating it in order to predict outcomes. This information is used to make proactive, knowledge-driven decisions e.g. to increase revenues, cut costs, improve customer relationships, reduce risks and more.

Data mining tools help answer business questions that traditionally were too time-consuming to contemplate.

In short, data mining is a process used by companies to turn raw data into useful information.


Why data mining is important

Businesses that use data mining gain a competitive advantage, e.g. understanding their customers better so they can develop more effective marketing strategies and tailor their products and services to cater better to their target market, increase sales and decrease costs.

Because all relevant personnel have more timeous and comprehensive oversight of business operations, they are able to spot and implement new business opportunities sooner.

Much like the real-life process of mining minerals or jewels, the most important task in data mining is to extract valuable nuggets from large amounts of data.

Difference between data analytics and data mining

Essentially, the primary difference between analytics and analysis is a matter of scale. Data analysis is a subcomponent of broader data analytics.

Data analysis (mining) refers to the process of examining, transforming and arranging a given data set in specific ways in order to study its individual parts and extract useful information.

Data Analytics refers to modifying the raw data into a meaningful format. Data analytics is an overarching science or discipline that encompasses the complete management of data. This not only includes analysis, but also data collection, organisation, storage, machine learning, artificial intelligence and all the tools and techniques used.

Knowledge management is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieving organisational objectives by making the best use of technology to provide the most insightful information in a visual format in order to easily interpret the results.

Business insight is when you analyse data to find meaning and a deeper understanding of a situation or issue. The objective is to gain insight into major mechanics related to your particular business, industry, your competition, or some other aspect that will result in a competitive advantage for your business.

Consumer insight is all about analysing your customer data to better understand who your customers are, what they want from your brand so you can better personalize and tailor products to the needs, wants, and demands of their customers. Smart use of customer insights intended to improve customer experience, and could obviously mean more revenue.

Customer insights can provide a deeper understanding of how your customers think and feel about your products and services, understand what they need and why they need it and help you make better decisions about how, when and what to sell them.

Data is more or less useless nonsense without analytics. Analytics is how you make sense of your data and uncover meaningful trends.

Insight is gained by analysing data and information to understand what is going on with a particular situation or phenomenon. The insight can then be used to make better business decisions.
Insight is the value obtained through the use of analytics. Analytical insights are incredibly powerful and can be used to identify areas of opportunity and grow your business.

Decision support system definitions

A decision support system is an information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities – Wikipedia

A decision support system (DSS) is a computerized system that gathers and analyses data, synthesizing it to produce comprehensive information reports – Investopedia

Decision support systems are generally recognized as an element of business intelligence systems, along with data warehousing, data mining, executive information systems, expert systems, and agent-based modelling in order to help organizations make informed business decisions.

The objective of MIS is to provide information for decision making on planning, initiating, organizing, and controlling the subsystems of the enterprise and to provide a collaborative organization in the process. It facilitates the decision-making process by furnishing information in the proper time frame.

MIS – Management Information Systems provide managers with feedback about their performances and help supervise the company.
EIS – Executive Information Systems help keep tabs on the performance of execs, managers departments and overall business.

BPM as a discipline. Business process management (BPM) is an approach comprised of the strategies and techniques used to understand, improve and automate business processes. BPM sees processes as resources in themselves and seeks to improve them.

This can be achieved by first capturing an organisations’ current-state end-to-end processes and then documenting the steps in process maps.

Once a department (or organization as a whole’s) processes have been mapped out, you can begin to see where the inefficiencies and bottlenecks lie. This insight allows you to make informed changes to each process to reduce costs and improve overall efficiency.

Different business sectors have a vast array of different goals and objectives. Some examples are below:

Healthcare: would like to improve patient-centric processes and give a better quality of care.
Manufacturing: Would like to identify and reduce inefficiencies in a production line and reduce bottlenecks.
Construction: would like to make staff aware of the policies and procedures in the workplace and e.g. identify potential health and safety risks.
Finance and accounting: would like to adhere to compliance regulations.

It is important to note that BPM can be used to actively support an ERP implementation and its management going forward.

An ERP system primarily stores key information, but some high specification platforms do have some process analysis and improvement capabilities too.

Enterprise Resource Planning is a software system that consists of a number of integrated applications that are used to collect, store, manage and analyse data from several different business sectors such as finance, manufacturing, mining, health and defence use ERP systems in business activities such as:

ERP systems allow a business to view its core processes in real-time using a series of integrated databases to track resources relating to different business areas, such as cash, raw materials and current stock levels.