data mining

The practice of massaging data to extract value from the numbers, statistics, and information found within a database and to predict what a customer will do next.

Data mining software works like this: in the first stage, "data collecting," information is gathered from Web site logs and databases; in the second stage, "data refining," user profiles are compared with recorded behavior to divide the users into groups and to predict their behavior; in the final stage, "taking action," the business or Web site answers a user's question on the fly or sends a targeted online ad to a browser, based on the results in the database. Data mining also refers to gathering and presenting on a Web site as much information on one particular topic as possible (this is similar to a guru site).

Historical perspective: Call centers got personal in 2018 according to The Wall Street Journal. The next time you dial customer service, who answers your call may be determined by what you have said on Facebook. For years, customer calls have been answered on a first come, first served basis. Now, with the help of data mining start-ups, companies like Sprint instantly examine factors like a caller’s credit history and social media profile to tailor calls for each customer. For example, one software company's product is used in 150 call centers and mines 100 different databases tied to landline and cellphone numbers. It then matches calls to agents who’ve had success with similar customers. Another records and examines customers’ past calls to create a personality score.