There may be huge potential benefits waiting in the data in your servers. These data may be used for many different purposes. Better data allow better decisions, of course. For instance, banks, insurance firms, and telecom companies already own a large amount of data about their customers. These resources are useful for building a more personal relationship with each customer.

Some organizations already use data from agricultural fields to build complex and customized models based on an extensive number of input variables (e.g., soil characteristics, weather, and plant types) in order to improve crop yields. Airline companies and large hotel chains use dynamic pricing models to improve their yield management. Data are increasingly being referred as the new “gold mine” of the 21st century.

A few factors underlie the rising prominence of data (and, therefore, data analysis).

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