TECHNOLOGY

WHAT IS DATA MINING?

Data mining consists in combining a rigorous statistical analysis methodology with the power of modern computing technology. It enables to process enormous data bases to extract analytical and predictive models that optimize business processes.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Any part of a business that accumulates quantitative data can benefit from these data. ApSTAT Technologies has successfully applied data mining to each of the following domains:

Area	Application
Retail stores	Sales forecasting Store traffic forecasting
Call centers	Call volume forecasting at each time during the day Call duration forecasting
Insurance	Identification of worst risks in automobile insurance Evaluation of customer lifetime value
Finance	Financial asset return and risk forecasting
Human resources	Forecasting employee absenteeism and tardiness

EXAMPLE: FORECASTING EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM

An absenteeism forecasting model can make use of all available historical data that have been accumulated on work attendance. Given new data, the model can compute the probability that a given employee be absent or late on a given day. It is important to remember that no prediction of the future can be 100% certain: a predictive model must always output a result in terms of probabilities.