Data mining

"Data mining is the process of analyzing hidden patterns of data according to different perspectives for categorization into useful information, which is collected and assembled in common areas, such as data warehouses, for efficient analysis ... facilitating business decision-making" (Techopedia). It's an "automated process of sorting through huge data sets to identify trends and patterns and establish relationships, to solve business problems or generate new opportunities through the analysis of the data. ... Data mining tools and techniques let you predict what's going to happen in the future and act accordingly to take advantage of coming trends" (InfoWorld).

"As an application of data mining, businesses can learn more about their customers and develop more effective strategies related to various business functions and in turn leverage resources in a more optimal and insightful manner. This helps businesses be closer to their objective and make better decisions. Data mining involves effective data collection and warehousing as well as computer processing" (The Economic Times).

"The data mining process breaks down into five steps. First, organizations collect data and load it into their data warehouses. Next, they store and manage the data, either on in-house servers or the cloud. Business analysts, management teams, and information technology professionals access the data and determine how they want to organize it. Then, application software sorts the data based on the user's results, and finally, the end user presents the data in an easy-to-share format, such as a graph or table" (Investopedia).