About Etisalat Corporation
Emirates Telecommunication Corporation trades in the brand name Etisalat. It is based in the United Arab Emirates. It is a multinational company with operations in seventeen countries across Africa, Asia and Middle East (Etisalat Corporation, 2012a).
“With a market value of approximately USD 20 billion and annual revenues of over USD 8.7 billion, Etisalat is today on the verge of being numbered amongst the top ten operators in the world” (Etisalat Corporation, 2012a).
“Etisalat now has access to a population of more than two billion and its satellite network provides services over two thirds of the planet’s surface” (Etisalat Corporation, 2012b). In 2011, the company generated a net profit amounting to USD 8.7billion. This treatise aims to discuss data mining and how it can be beneficial to the company in retrieving information.
Data mining
Data mining entails removal of information from bulky databases. Data mining helps companies focus on relevant information on their data warehouses. A data warehouse is a collection of information that supports business analysis activities and decision making. Data mining tools are software tools that are used in a data warehouse environment.
These tools aid in forecasting future behaviors. Examples of these data mining tools are query and reporting tools, artificial intelligence, multidimensional analysis tools, digital dashboards, and statistical tools. These tools are useful in day to day running of Etisalat since they simplify information that would otherwise take people a long time to process (Jiawei, Kamber, & Pei, 2011).
Information obtainable from data mining
Various types of data can be obtained using data mining. The data depends on the line of business of the entity. Examples of information obtainable from data mining are transaction data, text report and memos, relational data, World Wide Web repositories, and multimedia data. These types of data retrieved benefits the company in various ways.
For instance, transaction data provides Etisalat Corporation with details of transactions carried out in the company. Transaction data provides information such as the time when transactions with customers and with other companies took place. Examples of transactions are sales, purchases, banking, and exchanges (Jiawei et al., 2011).
World Wide Web provides the company with information on a broad variety of topics covered and infinite contribution of resources and publishers. The Web contains information of all kinds that can benefit the Corporation. Multimedia data comprises of images, audio, text media, and video. Retrieval of such information requires high technology. Multimedia information is beneficial to the Telecommunication Company.
Relational data comprises of information of various attributes kept in tables. For instance, a relational data of customers for the company contains information of the customer such as customer name, identification number, address, age, occupation, annual income, credit information, and category.
Finally, text report and memos provides the company with details of communication within the company or between companies or with private people. These communications are kept in digital form and transmitted in text form often exchanged via email (Jiawei et al., 2011).
Unstructured data
Unstructured data refer to data that do not have a particular structure. These data do not have identifiable data models and may not fit in to relational tables. Unstructured data are text bulky and in most cases take the form of images, videos, documents, and texts.
Unstructured data contain information such as dates, numbers and facts. The nature of some of the data makes it difficult to understand using traditional computers. Unstructured data can either be textual or non textual.
Textual data comprises of Word documents, Power point presentations, email messages, and instant messages. Non textual unstructured data comprises of MP3 audio files, flash video files, and JPEG images. Unstructured data needs to be managed so as to minimize storage space (Artis Consulting L.P, 2008).
Examples of unstructured data that Etisalat Corporation can access are Excel spreadsheets, word documents, and email messages. The company uses these data during day to day running of the organization. Apart from the three identified above, the company may also consider using RSS feeds, audio files, and video files.
Being a telecommunication company, use of these files improves efficiency of the company. Further, for customer facing areas, management should endeavor to analyze information contained in unstructured data so as to improve relationship marketing and customer relationship (Artis Consulting L.P, 2008).
Benefits of data mining
Data mining provides numerous benefits for companies. First, data mining helps the company to save money and time by advertising to clients who show interest in their products thus increasing the success of marketing (Chomsky & Dvorak, 2007). Second, “data mining enables companies to segment their markets and to personalize communications between them” (Chomsky & Dvorak, 2007).
Market segmentation is achieved when there is adequate information about customers. Further, it enables companies to carry out price discrimination thus increasing profitability. Also, “data mining help companies identify customer prospects and maintain them for a long period,” (Chomsky & Dvorak, 2007). Overall, data mining provides companies with easy access to information on an extensive scale (Chomsky & Dvorak, 2007).
References
Artis Consulting L.P. (2008). Structured and unstructured data. Web.
Chomsky, C., & Dvorak, M. (2007). Data mining. Web.
Etisalat Corporation. (2012a). Company profile. Web.
Etisalat Corporation. (2012b). Investors relation. Web.
Jiawei Han, J., Kamber, M., & Pei, J. (2011). Data mining: Concepts and techniques. United States: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.