Outstanding customer relations through the efficient use of internal and external data.

Data mining has the potential to use internal and external data for an optimized sales pitch. Unfortunately very few firms actually use this potential. Data mining usually is only done by a small number of specialists using conventional, very sophisticated data mining approaches - using only a fraction of the business to answer important questions. The integration of an automated data mining process with other business processes typically does not happen. Therefore the shifting back and forth of flat files, or complete images of SAP NetWeaver BI data into an external data mining environment is more the rule rather than the exception.

When picking data mining methods, Business & Decision favors robustness over complexity. Therefore the fit of the model is equally important as the ability to make good predictions. Business & Decision recommends two technologies to achieve this:

• KXEN's analytical framework as 3rd party data mining

• Business & Decision Data Mining Engine as a solution that is perfectly integrated with SAP NetWeaver

Both solutions stand out because of their high degree of automation. Hence a regular data mining model definition and application can be done without manual input; and a fully automated closed loop scenario is possible, from data selection to scoring.