Is Data Mining still on the rise?

Another very interesting and thoughtful take on Predictive Analytics and Data Mining from Mark Madsen can be found here. I've never met him before, but I think I'd like to since he is a TDWI kind of guy, obviously well informed, and I'll be in the same location this May in Boston teaching a data mining course at the next TDWI conference in Boston on the 17th, which is Thursday.

But back to the article...Mr. Madsen writes that Predictive Analytics

rated by the Executive Summit attendees as the number one item expected to have the most impact over the next several years.

Well, that's good news, and I think it makes sense because most companies I deal with are just starting to use predictive analytics. There will always be the powerhouse, large companies that have large data mining teams. They make for great case studies. But we'll know that data mining has "made it" when small companies can have one person working part time doing their analytics, and being effective with it. I know several companies like this already, but it takes some investment in training to get there.