Data Mining and Business Intelligence: A Guide to Productivity - Softcover

Kudyba, Stephan; Hoptroff, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1930708033 ISBN 13: 9781930708037

Publisher: Idea Group Pub., 2011

Synopsis

Data Mining and Business Intelligence: A Guide to Productivity provides an overview of data mining technology and how it is applied in a business environment. It describes the corresponding data mining methodologies that are used to solve a variety of business problems which enhance firm-level efficiency in a less technical, more managerial style. The book incorporates the data mining process into the spectrum of complementary technologies that together comprise corporate information systems that promote business intelligence. Business intelligence involves the proliferation of value-added information throughout a given enterprise through the use of various applications that promotes efficiency for the firm.

About this title

About the Author

Stephan Kudyba began his career in the investment banking industry where he spent over a decade of his life analyzing the state of the global economy. His experience has included such activities as International Economist/Market Analyst and Risk Exposure Management, which involved the creation of sophisticated models that identified trends in securities prices. Over the years, he has worked in such institutions as Citibank (New York), Dresdner Bank (Frankfurt, Germany and New York) during which he obtained a Masters in Business Administration with a finance concentration. In order to fully grasp the changing nature of economic activity as a result of the evolving information age, Dr. Kudyba attained a PhD in economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a special focus on information technology and firm level productivity. He is now an economic consultant with Cognos Corporation where he applies data mining and business intelligence technology to devise productivity enhancing strategies for organizations around the globe.

Richard Hoptroff obtained a PhD in Physics in London for developing optimization algorithms and neural networks for industrial applications including control systems and robot vision. After graduating in 1992, he applied the same techniques to economics and business modeling. After initially working as a consultant, he started Right Information Systems (RIS), a software company dedicated to producing what was to become known as data mining software. RIS's premier product was 4Thought, a neural-network based modeling and forecasting package. In 1997, RIS was acquired by Cognos Inc of Ottawa, Canada, where he became Director of Data Mining. In 1999 he returned to independent consulting and is currently based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

From the Back Cover

"The authors combination of top-tier academic credentials along with years of experience make this work a unique asset. It sheds new light on the process of estimating Advertising effectiveness and I would recommend it to management across industry sectors as an essential reference to increasing firm efficiency." -Rob Young of HYPN Advertising, a subsidiary of Omni Com

"Readers and business practitioners will do well to read this book because it provides them strategies for growing their business, improving efficiency and making larger profits. Even for the non-practitioners it prvodes valuable information about the changes taking place in this important sector." -Romesh Diwan, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

We are in the midst of a drastic transformation in the realm of commerce from that which prevailed over the past 50 years. Innovations in telecommunications, computer processing, and software technology have helped create the Information Economy. This term generally refers to the increased utilization of various forms of Information Technology (IT) to capture, store, extract, manipulate, analyze and communicate data and information of all forms by firms across industry sectors. As a result, organizations around the globe have greater accessibility to increased amounts of information than any time in the past. Because of the complementary nature of the IT spectrum mentioned above, firms can better transform vast amounts of data into a more vital asset, information, that ultimately enhances the knowledge level of individuals across functional areas of an organization. As the information economy has evolved, the noteworthy progression of which began in the mid 1990s', economists, analysts and business leaders have devoted time and effort to identifying how the implementation of IT can increase the efficiency or productivity of a given enterprise. Many have referred to such innovations that have replaced factors of production in a direct sense, (e.g. labor displacing technology such as ATM's) as a primary driver of productivity growth. However, another source of corporate productivity comes in the form of "reducing the uncertainty of the business process". This idea refers to the process of accessing value added, firm-relevant information in a timely manner. The availability of accurate information enables decision makers across functional areas to better understand the important factors that impact the bottom line of their activities. A clearer picture of those factors enhances their ability to devise and implement policies that more accurately address the problems of a given process or augment successful processes to new levels. The proper utilization of Information Technology therefore increases the overall "Business Intelligence" of a given organization. Enhanced business intelligence helps reduce the uncertainty of those issues that really affect day to day operations at the firm level. Keep in mind however, that one of the pitfalls of the evolution of the information economy has been the proliferation of a variety of buzzwords and phrases that depict nothing more than a rehashing of commonly accepted practices. Does Business Intelligence fall into this category? The answer is no, for all one needs to do is analyze the growth, innovation and implementation of the spectrum of technologies that comprise this space to see the dynamic and tangible value added it provides to corresponding organizations. Firms of all sizes and industry types are utilizing these technologies to help augment their operations to compete, survive and thrive in this new dynamic economy.

"Data mining and Business Intelligence: A Guide to Productivity" helps describe the process by which firms can increase their efficiency by implementing "state of the art" IT. More specifically, it focuses on the high-end analytical software technologies, referred to as data mining, and how it, along with other applications such as On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), can help decision makers extract information and knowledge from the vast amounts of data they collect on a day by day and minute by minute basis. This work is not written in a technical style but rather addresses the applied methodology behind properly implementing data mining techniques in the corporate environment. It provides an introduction from where the technology evolved (it's theoretical base), an overview of the dominant methodologies that comprise the data mining spectrum and every day business applications where it can produce a value added. By doing so it bridges the gap between the important theoretical academic world and that of the applied side of the business environment. As was mentioned previously, we are undergoing a transformation in the world of commerce, which involves the evolution of e-commerce. This work has not ignored this growing phenomenon and addresses the issue of data mining in an e-commerce environment as well, connecting the more traditional "Brick and Mortar" firm structure to the growing "Click and Mortar" enterprise. "Data mining and Business Intelligence: A Guide to Productivity", seeks to provide a greater understanding of what various forms of information technology offer to the world of business in the evolving information economy. By connecting the technological functionality to prevailing underlying business applications, which incorporate traditional business and economic theory, we hope to illustrate the full potential of data mining and Business Intelligence in achieving increased efficiency for the firm.

Edition details

• Publisher: Idea Group Pub.
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1930708033
• ISBN 13: 9781930708037
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 166