Data
Mining: Data mining
is the process of extracting data from various data sources and data repositories.
Data mining is a way of analyzing data and presenting it in some useful
information. Data mining contains well defined steps and procedures. The data
mining tools allow users to analyze data from different angels or views.
However, there are different stages of techniques that are needed in order to
complete the process of data mining and gain its full benefits.
As there cannot be a single application or tool to
extract required data, data mining involves variety of data extraction
processes. Most of the times, the data extraction is done by running ad-hoc
queries.
Data mining is relatively a new concept, though
organizations have been using tools to process large volumes of data and
extract patterns in various transaction records available in the database. For
example, super markets use these analytical tools to establish consumer buying
patterns, customer tastes and preferences. Corporations use this discovery to
offer relevant products to customer, cut costs, and increase profits.