Microsoft and Data Mining Dominance

When it comes to data mining and predictive analytics, Microsoft Corp. might not be the first company that comes to mind.

That could change, however, especially if Donald Farmer, Redmond’s principal program manager for SQL Server Data Mining, has his way.

Microsoft has come a long way in the data mining and predictive analytics segment, Farmer says, and with a game-changing Excel 2007 release under its belt — and a promising SQL Server 2008 revision in the pipeline — Redmond hopes to challenge established powers SAS Institute Inc. and SPSS Inc. for data mining and predictive analytic bragging rights.

“[We don’t] have all the functionality of something like a SAS or an SPSS, because that’s just not our market,” he conceded.

It comes down to a difference of scale, according to Farmer. SAS and SPSS typically target larger, more expensive deployments, typically with users well-versed in the usage of their tools. Microsoft is targeting a different kind of data mining consumer: the Excel analyst, for example, who might not have much (if any) experience with data mining, predictive analytics or statistical analysis, for that matter.

Read more from RedmondMag here.

Farecast bought by Microsoft

Microsoft bought Seattle-based airfare prediction and travel site Farecast earlier this month for around $115 million, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

A Microsoft spokeswoman would not comment on the terms of the deal, but did confirm the purchase, which closed April 9.

“Farecast has been a partner of ours on MSN Travel and we look forward to working closely with the Farecast team to incorporate and apply its technology in new and interesting ways,” Whitney Burk, a spokeswoman with Microsoft’s Online Services business, said in a statement.

More from SeattleTimes here.

Angoss Demonstrates Predictive Analytics Plug-In for Salesforce.com

Angoss Software Corporation (Angoss) (TSX-V: ANC), a leading provider of predictive analytics solutions for the financial services and information and communications technology industries announced today at the Gartner Business Intelligence Summit the availability of Angoss KnowledgeSEEKER® for Salesforce.com, a Sales and Marketing Analytics plug-in for Salesforce.com.

Seamlessly integrating with Salesforce.com, Angoss KnowledgeSEEKER® for Salesforce.com provides sales and marketing professionals with predictive analytics to increase sales volumes and revenue, improve sales force productivity, increase forecast accuracy and more – all with measurable ROI.

“We believe this is one of the most significant product launches in our company history that extends over many years of data mining firsts from in-database mining, to embedded data mining with Microsoft SQL Server, and CRM platforms such as Siebel and PeopleSoft” commented Angoss President Eric Apps. “Our clients and many others across the finance and ICT industries are struggling to drive higher revenue from customers and prospects while reducing net sales expense. Our On-Demand analytics solutions produce highly targeted, data-driven analytics deployed directly to sales teams and have already been proven to significantly improve revenue growth in the mutual fund, wealth management and telecom industries. By leveraging the flexibility and configurability of the Salesforce.com On-Demand platform, we are now able to expand and extend these capabilities while delivering substantial, incremental value to Salesforce.com users.”

Angoss KnowledgeSEEKER® for Salesforce.com is for marketers, sales managers, and sales reps seeking to maximize customer value, improve sales force productivity, reduce sales cycles, and increase forecast accuracy. Angoss KnowledgeSEEKER® for Salesforce.com provides a suite of tools to score leads based on predicted conversion rate, predict account revenue potential and mine opportunities for insight to predicted likelihood to close, lose, or push.

Read the press release.