Companies that you previously did not think were in the data mining business or in the prediction business have used data mining technologies in strange but very useful ways. Your company too has some “useless” data that can be harvested. It really comes down to asking the correct question. Google obviously is centrally in the data mining business and it mines the data from almost everything, including harvesting past data from the user’s searches. Other companies not traditionally thought about being in the data mining business have utilized data that was previously considered just past transaction data. Take the two examples:
Fedex, UPS, DHL and companies like them are shippers of goods. These are great logistics and shipping centers that take packages from almost everywhere to everywhere. So does the Post office, but these companies are more B2B (business to business). They track packages; they manage the packages and in many ways are primarily responsible to help companies get their product from one place to the other. They have decided to harvest that data to show the activity of companies as they ship goods. The prime and probably correct assumption is the more the activity the more the business. They can identify the business centers of interest; they have also got into the prediction business. Which area shows the most growth? Which area has developed well? Which area will show future development.
SWIFT code is the standard bank identifier code that is used to identify banks. These are used every time money is transferred between banks. Exchange of money similar to shipping of goods implies business activity, so the data that they were collecting were now harvested to make the predictions of business activity.
These companies have found that transaction data that used to be discarded becomes useful information. Ask yourself what data could be mined in your company?