Data Mining meets Decision Making: a Case Study Perspective

Data Mining (DM) technologies have been employed within the specialized domains of customer relationship andrisk management for over a decade. However, it has been only recently that DM techniques have begun to enter themain stream of optimization activities often spurred on by recent external influences such as the challengingeconomic climate. While increased use of DM offers many benefits to organizations, communicating the value ofDM requires an approach beyond over simplistic Return on Investment (ROI) calculations. The study described inthis paper aimed to determine if Value Analysis (VA) as outlined by Keen(Keen 1981) may serve as an appropriateapproach to evaluating DM and gaining executive alignment. A case study methodology will be employed toillustrate how a fresh perspective of this theory may address the challenges in communicating DM value