Can you predict the future? Can anyone?
In 1555, Michel de Nostredame more usually known as Nostradamus, published “Les Propheties”, a collection of 942 poetic Quatrains. To illustrate how popular predicting the future is, the book has not been out of print since!
And although these predictions are wildly vague and often mis-interpreted, many point to them as accurately foreseeing the future.
But if you don’t have the gifts of Nostradamus, today there are tech tools to help see what’s in your business future. It’s called Data Mining.
The term “data mining“ is slightly misleading, since the goal is the extraction of patterns and knowledge from large amounts of data, not the extraction (mining) of data itself. But the information contained in that data is the real “gold”.
Data mining is the process of discovering patterns in large data sets. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and statistics, with an overall goal to extract information (with intelligent methods) from a data set and transform the information into a comprehensible structure for further use. Aside from the raw analysis step, it also involves database and data management aspects.
Most businesses find and collect large amounts of data. And among that data is knowledge and patterns that can influence product and service design, marketing, sales, placement and process- no matter what your sector, no matter the size of your business.
Locating the data that has information pertinent to you is what makes data mining important. It’s a process that may use different tools- software, protocols, and extraction paradigms- but it’s a key process that can influence the growth and evolution of your enterprise.
So how do you go about “mining data”?
At first glance the process seems very complicated and full of alien terms. And it is quite technical. To establish and operate a full-blown data mining team is a complex and expensive project. An expense that only the largest players can afford.
But there is a way for even small or medium sized businesses can get into the data mining game.
By partnering with a BPO, a Business Process Outsourcing firm, your company can begin using the rich trove of information for your business that data mining can produce.
- eCommerce : Data mining in the e-commerce industry helps in Product Search, Product Recommendation, Fraud Detection, and Business Intelligence. Since more and more sales are made online, knowing who your customer is, and what they’re looking for in a transaction is a valuable tool.
- Healthcare : In the Healthcare industry it’s used to enable providers to systematically use analytics to find waste and duplication to lower costs and increase the quality of care.
- World Wide Web : There is a universe of information streaming through the net every second. Finding, capturing and using that data to predict the future sounds impossible, but it’s happening right now.
- Financial : Not only can this information be predictive of markets and trends, saving enterprises time and money, it can help dissect the past, so you won’t make the same mistake again and again.
Not surprisingly, having the resources to data mine would be hugely expensive- large staff, specialized software and servers with zettabytes of memory.
That’s why it makes sense to outsource data mining to obtain these resources. Here’s where a BPO comes in. A top line BPO can offer these resources tomorrow! You can instantly be receiving the predictions of your own Nostradamus- but with a lot more specific and accurate information.
One Business Process Outsourcing firm has the staff, the hardware, the software, the training and experience to support your Data Mining needs- Rely Services.
For more information, and a chance to see exactly what Rely Services offers, book a free evaluation of your customer service needs and how we can help you accomplish your goals.
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