In this edition:

Introductory Letter.
Training. Data mining "Level I". A Strategic Overview of Methods, Resources and Applications for Predictive Analytics.
Article. Driven with Business Expertise, Analytics Produces Actionable Predictions

Dear Friend of Prediction Impact,

2004 is an exciting year for predictive analytics. As research repeatedly concludes, more and more organizations are realizing ROI on infrastructure investments such as data warehouses and CRM systems by mining for business intelligence buried within their aggregate data. The buzz of success stories continues to grow and their resulting payoffs keep increasing.

Riding this wave of technology adoption, the data mining consultants in Prediction Impact's network are servicing increasingly diverse business applications of predictive analytics. Our group of experts is interdisciplinary, complementing one another's backgrounds and collaborating when needed. While most have earned a Ph.D., demonstrating a deep technical familiarity with modeling and mining methods, all have gained a great deal of true experience on the commercial side. This means walking into large banks, manufacturers and retail firms and enabling these organizations to leverage their data. In a nutshell, this data is your organization's collective experience.

If you're interested in exploring the potential predictive analytics has for your organization, contact us for an exploratory meeting or just a chat on the phone. As you'll discover, what's mined is yours.

Best regards,

Eric V. Siegel, Ph.D.
Senior Consultant and Co-Founder
PREDICTION IMPACT
(415) 385-1313
http://www.predictionimpact.com

CRM Analytics:

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Our senior consultant Eric Siegel will facilitate The Modeling Agency's Data Mining: "Level I" June 21 and 22 offering in Washington, DC. Follow the link below for more information and to QUALIFY FOR A $100 REGISTRATION DISCOUNT, exclusively through Prediction Impact.

For course details and outline, instructor bio, venue and tourism information, registration, and the $100 Prediction Impact discount: http://www.the-modeling-agency.com/training/dm-level1.htm

On-site training offerings:

Prediction Impact also offers on-site and on-line (webinar) trainings of varying duration and scope. Contact training@predictionimpact.com for scheduling and price quotes.

Run data mining as a business activity to generate customer predictions that will have a business impact.

March 29, 2004, CRM Magazine's DestinationCRM By Eric Siegel, Prediction Impact

There is an often overlooked, but critical, bit of good and bad news about CRM analytics. Adhering to tradition, let's start with the bad.

The bad news:

CRM analytics is a business activity, not an IT activity.

Other data-intensive initiatives, such as deploying a data warehouse or OLAP solution, can be handed off to IT and revisited later to receive the results. But CRM analytics and data mining require a wholly collaborative process driven by business needs and marketing expertise -- you need to meet with your analytics folks a few times a week.

The good news:

CRM analytics is a business activity, not an IT activity.

That's right, the bad news is also the good. With CRM analytics run as a business activity, you can guide the process. This ensures that the results are actionable within your company's operational framework, and that they have the greatest impact within your company's business model.

This short article is a helpful introduction to understand, in concrete terms, the business value of data mining and the business process required to make it work. Although the article describes predictive analytics in terms of Customer Relationship Management, the ideas are applicable to all types of data mining applications, including direct marketing, response modeling, web analytics and attrition prevention.

Click here for the full article

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