It is very difficult for data mining software companies to create tools which are geared towards businesses. The reason for this is because many of the people who are responsible for this technology will place an emphasis on computer algorithms.
To most business owners, algorithms are not important. Data mining is a technology that is now being used mostly be large corporations, and because of this, the focus cannot be algorithms. Many popular data mining programs have algorithms that only compose about 10% of their structure. The question that many developers must as themselves is where should the emphasis be placed on the other 90 percent?
The first place that data mining developers can focus on is database integration. The data mining tools that are created must be able to function with data warehouses. When the files are flat, this will not allow the tool to work with many databases, and this will cause problems. Fortunately, many data mining developers have taken this advice, and are designing their tools in a way that allows them to work seamlessly with the data warehouses of many companies. However, there are still some developers that are not doing this. The next area that is important for data mining tools is called automatic model scoring. Scoring is one of the most tedious aspects of data mining.
There are a number of contemporary data mining programs that cannot score the models that they create. If you are using any of these programs, you will have to develop your own scoring system. This is tedious, time consuming, and unnecessary. In addition to this, when you have to manually produce a scoring system, it is likely that you will have many errors. The scoring system will often have to be done by the information technology department, and they don’t do it correctly, there could be a number of problems. To solve these problems, developers will want to create data mining tools that automate the process of scoring models that have been created.
By automating the process of scoring data mining models, companies could become more efficient and less prone to errors. Another area where data mining programs need to improve is exporting models between different software programs. Once a model has been generated, it is important for other programs to be able to understand it. By doing this, the process of scoring can be much more efficient, the models can be used by numerous tools. In addition to this, it is important for data mining tools to begin using more business templates. The goal of a company is to solve a business problem rather than a statistical issue. Developers will want to calibrate the data mining tools in a way that makes them more relevant to business users.
Users should also be given more control over the data mining programs they use. For example, a user should be able to set a value which will determine the speed and detail of models that are generated. For example, if a user needs to be able to create a rough model quickly that will give them a general idea of how to solve a problem, this should be available. However, if the customer needs a detailed model which may take an extended period of time to generate, this function should be available as well. Data mining developers will want to allow users to set their own parameters.
Because most businesses will naturally want to deal with financial issues, this should be integrated into data mining programs. The goal of a business owner is to increase their profits rather than deal with technical issues which are not relevant for their operation. Because of this, finance issues should play an important role in the development of data mining tools.
In addition to this time and other important variables must also be considered. While data mining tools have a number of potential applications, the technology is in its infancy, and there are a number of areas that need to be improved. Most of these problems are technical issues, and can be resolved if developers take the time to address them. It is also important to make sure the models are displayed in a way that is easy for the business person to understand.
