I even may be invited to subscribe to an online newsletter put out by a dive shop in the Bahamas. Now, that's what I'd call putting a little bit of knowledge about the customer to good use. But if you think this is whiz-bang, think again. Web users have become so sophisticated that we now expect this kind of treatment from the Web sites we visit on a regular basis. Perhaps that's why MIT thinks this technology will change the world.
Data mining has very broad applications in virtually all industries.
The National Aeronautic and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory has used data mining to distinguish far-off stars from galaxies. Chase Manhattan Bank delved into its customer data to study ways to retain customers and gain a higher percentage of profitable customers. North Carolina State University researchers are pinpointing tiny differences in human genetic sequences which may cause diseases such as Alzheimer's. No matter the type of data you analyze, there are bound to be nuggets of valuable information contained within. As recently as 2 years ago, data mining was considered an expensive luxury for most companies.