Critical Success Factors for Data Mining Projects

Abstract

Due to the strategic reorientation of many companies in recent years data mining, as a tool for the analytical customer relation management, became more and more important. Because, however, the success of data mining is not always guaranteed, this paper wants to explain whether respectively under which conditions the investment in data mining projects could be profitable. Using the theoretical background of critical success factors, data mining and some related topics, a model to explain the success of a data mining project in a company has been developed. The derived hypotheses have been tested in an empirical study of German companies. As a result the following critical success factors could be proofed: the commitment of the top management, the existence of a change management, a fixed budget for the project, a good integration of the data mining process in the IT landscape as well as a high quality of the used data.