Data Mining meets Decision Making: a Case Study Perspective

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