A focus on the highly specialized and highly accurate algorithmic derivations and statistical calculations that are less commonly observed in the typical business environment. Computer programs are often used for this type of statistical data analysis.

Data analysis can be described as the process of cleaning, inspecting, modeling, and transforming data with the aim of highlighting or emphasizing useful information. Data analysis can be used for business, science, and social science.

There could be many purposes of data analysis in business. The main way my company uses data analysis is to identify market segments and their value to my business. If I find that a particular group of people fitting a particular customer profile, or living in a particular region has certain characteristics, that information is valuable to me. If I learn that people in France are three times as likely to make a purchase each time they visit my site, than an average browser, I could use that information to emphasize advertising in France much more. On the other hand, if I learned that customers who wanted a free listing had a 15% chance of upgrading if I didn't call them, but exhibited a 30% chance of upgrading if I gave them an introductary welcome call, that information could be life or death to my business.

Data analysis is difficult, because the interpretation of the data could include many factors. If your company had a certain sales level in 2010, and then in 2011, you use a new marketing medium and your business decreases, was it because of a defective marketing system, or was it due to some other change in your business, or the economy in general?

One type of analysis that I did recently was to look at countries who use our site, and see how many clicks we get from each country when we are advertising there, and then see how many return or repeat visitors we get when we turn the advertising off. There are infinite ways that you could analyze data, and they are all interesting. Good data analysis, especially advertising ROI analysis can mean the life or death of your business.