Mining the Talk: Unlocking the Business Value in Unstructured Information

by Scott Spangler

Leverage Unstructured Data to Become More Competitive, Responsive, and Innovative In Mining the Talk , two leading-edge IBM researchers introduce a revolutionary new approach to unlocking the business value hidden in virtually any form of unstructured data–from word processing documents to websites, emails to instant messages. The authors review the business drivers that have made unstructured data so important–and explain why conventional methods for working with it are inadequate. Then, writing for business professionals–not just data mining specialists–they walk step-by-step through exploring your unstructured data, understanding it, and analyzing it effectively. Next, you’ll put IBM’s techniques to work in five key learning from your customer interactions; hearing the voices of customers when they’re not talking to you; discovering the “collective consciousness” of your own organization; enhancing innovation; and spotting emerging trends. Whatever your organization, Mining the Talk offers you breakthrough opportunities to become more responsive, agile, and competitive. Preface xv Acknowledgements xx Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Mining Customer Interactions 21 Chapter 3: Mining the Voice of the Customer 71 Chapter 4: Mining the Voice of the Employee 93 Chapter 5: Mining to Improve Innovation 111 Chapter 6: Mining to See the Future 133 Chapter 7: Future Applications 163 The IBM Unstructured Information Modeler Users Manual 171

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2007