Real-World Data Mining: Applied Business Analytics and Decision Making

2. Introduction to Data Mining

Data mining is one of the most powerful enablers of analytics. Although its roots date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, the most impactful data mining applications have been developed after the turn of the 21st century. Many people believe that the recent popularity of analytics can largely be credited to the increasing use of data mining, which is extracting and providing much-needed insight and knowledge to decision makers at all levels of the managerial hierarchy. The term data mining was originally used to describe the process through which previously unknown patterns in data were discovered. Software vendors and consulting companies have expanded this definition to include most forms of data analysis ...