Data mining is also called data or even knowledge discovery. It is the process of analysing data from perspectives that are distinct and summarise it into useful information. By useful information in business perceptive, it is meant, that information which can increase revenues, bring down costs or do both for that matter. The software of data mining is a tool for data analysing , one of its type, it permits the users to analyse data from distinct dimensions or angles, place it into many categories and then work towards summarising of the identified relationships. In more technical terminology, data mining is a process that helps in finding the correlation or patterns within a dozen of fields that are present in relational databases.
The term data mining is a new term. However, in the field of technology, it is being used for a long time. Companies have been using smart , powerful computers that have the capability to scan the markets data and analyse the reports of the market. But still, there has been continuous innovation in the processing of the computers from the yester years and newer and better disk storage capacities have contributed towards increasing the accuracy of the data analysis and have brought down the cost to a significant level. There has been a continuous innovation in this field.
So many times, novice researchers confuse themselves with the terms data , information And knowledge. They are used as synonyms which is not correct.
Data: Data are related to facts, numbers and texts which have the capacity of being processed by the computer. Organisations work towards collecting vast amount of data for various purposes.
Information: data can be graded and categorized and patterns, associations and relationships help in providing relevant information.
Knowledge: It is possible to convert information into knowledge. It is all about historical patterns and future trends.
Data mining is primarily seen to be used by those companies that have a strong focus on consumers. It basically helps them to identify the relationship between internal and external factors and the impact of decisions of the company on sales and profits.