Data mining is a useful tool for practical business use. The methodology derives from advanced statistics, however, there are many commercial software packages that simplify the process. Neural networks and decision trees are simpler models that are commonly used in business circles.
Data mining is a natural evolutionary step in information systems management. It goes beyond current tools to describe previously undiscovered patterns and build predictive models. Although data mining is still migrating to the corporate business world, it continues to mature and will eventually be regarded as a standard tool. The use of multimedia data for data mining will continue to grow as speech and photo recognition technologies are improved.