What are the advantages and disadvantages of data mining?

Advantages of Data Mining

The advantage of data mining are as follows −

Marketing/Retailing

Data mining can help direct marketers by supporting them with useful and accurate trends about their users purchasing behavior. It is based on these trends, marketers can direct their marketing attention to their customers with more precision. For example, marketers of a software company may advertise their new software to consumers who have a lot of software purchasing history.

Moreover, data mining can also help marketers in predicting which products their users can be interested in purchasing. Through this prediction, marketers can surprise their users and create the users shopping experience becomes a pleasant one.

Retail stores can also benefit from data mining in same methods. For instance, through the trends supported by data mining, the store managers can combine shelves, stock certain elements, or provide a specific discount that will attract their users.

Banking/Crediting

Data mining can help financial institutions in areas including credit documenting and loan records. For example, by testing previous users with similar attributes, a bank can estimate the level of risk related to each given loan. In addition, data mining can also help credit card issuers in disclosing potentially fraudulent credit card transactions. Although the data mining technique is not 100% accurate in its prediction about fraudulent charges, it does help credit card issuers reduce their losses.

Law Enforcement

Data mining can aid law enforcers in identifying criminal suspects and apprehending these criminals by determining trends in location, crime type, habit, and other designs of behaviors.

Researchers

Data mining can help researchers by speeding up their data analyzing phase; thus, enabling those more time to work on multiple projects.

Disadvantages of Data Mining

The disadvantage of data mining are as follows −

Privacy Issues

Personal privacy has always been a major concern in this country. In recent years, with the widespread use of the Internet, privacy concerns have increased tremendously. Because of privacy issues, some people do not shop on the Internet. They are afraid that someone can have access to their personal data and then use that data in an unethical way; thus causing they harm.

Security Issues

Although companies have several personal information about us available online, they do not have enough security systems in place to protect that data.

Misuse of Information/Inaccurate Information

Trends obtain through data mining intended to be used for marketing purposes or some other ethical purposes, maybe misused. Unethical businesses or people can use the data obtained through data mining to take benefit of vulnerable person or discriminated against a specific team of people.