When A Business Abandons A Data Mine: A Case Study

Abstract

This case study examines the corporate expectations, conduct, and reactions surrounding a data-mining effort. Faced with the pressures of a still-restructuring business environment, even the executives who had initiated the effort failed to probe its value. They abandoned their commitment to prospecting and then the whole of the mining effort, despite its payback and promise. This article analyzes the project's failures and successes, offering guidelines that could make a difference in similar situations. If data mining is allowed to lose its strategic business focus, its potentialities will not be acknowledged.