Data Mining - Predictive Analysis

We are looking at acquiring Data Mining software to primarily run predictive analysis processes.

How does SQL Server Data Mining solution compares to other solutions like SPSS from IBM?

Since SQL Server DM is incl开发者_StackOverflow中文版uded in SQL Server Enterprise license - what would be the justification to spend extra couple 100K to buy separate software just to do DM?

---

I would look into open source options as well, including R, RapidMiner, Weka

I would recommend checking out the Rexer survey, as it shows popularity and satisfaction measures for a variety of data mining products:

http://www.kdnuggets.com/2010/03/f-annual-rexer-analytics-data-miner-survey-results.html

---

Depending on what you are looking to accomplish, and obviously your budget, there are certainly some great things being done in R. Check out Rattle for R and Revolution Computing.

I am a big fan of SPSS, and unfortunately have not used their Modeler package, but it seems like it may be worth considering. I have used SAS Enterprise Miner, and while it is powerful, I am not a big fan.

I haven't dabbled with Weka that much, but I found RapidMiner to have a steep learning curve, but does have alot of capability.

---

If you want to keep everything in the Microsoft stack check out www.predixionsoftware.com which is planning the release of a disruptive Excel add-in as an update to the current MS DM add-ins.

---

You might want want to give KNIME a try before paying for something else. Works well with databases and is excellent for exploratory analysis.

---

I would suggest to check open-source data mining software. There are some very good open-source software that are free.

---

I Would start by building some data mining models in SSAS using both Multidimensional and Tabular, and then get an account for Google Analytics. I built a social networking website that was set up where members had to join and used Google Analytics to start building reporting dashboards and have probably built near a thousand. Good starting point, R is good, Omni used to be the top dawg but Adobe bought them, clicktracks, quilk view, Sisense, Tableau, Actuate, however I would wait and see how the product Microsoft releases is. Chances are it will set itself apart like they have in the BI market and shot up to 2nd in market share and 1st in growth in the database market.