Guest Contribution: Transforming Financial Services With Analytics
We live in a time when every minute we generate millions of records of information that, in a disorganized way, is stored in servers from different companies or networks in the cloud, often without any clear policies on how to manage, process and take advantage of such information. But with the challenges that digital banking imposes, the high user preference for services that fit consumer needs for mobility, along with the fast growth that the IoT will have, the time has come in which financial institutions and companies in other sectors must go further and change the mindsets to take advantage of the large volume of information available from their customers and actually generate a transformation in their business.
There was a time when the only possible way to analyze available information was to use statistical sampling techniques focused primarily on structured information, because organizing and analyzing the entire data set was simply impossible. Even though today banks are beginning to research analysis strategies and their use of structured and unstructured data, in most cases this analysis is performed to improve internal processes, to reduce operating and financial risks, and to define strategies for product and service.
Guest contributor Carlos Ferrer is the Vice President and General Manager of Unisys for South, Central and Andean Latin America, and the Head of Financial Services for Latin America
Because of this, there is a long way to go if one wants to really realize the potential of all the information provided to us, to facilitate growth, differentiate of services, customer engagement and business transformation in this the new digital era.
Big Data, analytics, and the great digital universe are the big themes that we hear about frequently and they promise to be smart and viable solutions for business improvement. Financial companies and banks increasingly are using these types of solutions to improve their services. The customer is the center of everything. Their environment, their needs; their consumption behavior, preferences, goals, and finances define the treatment that their financial service providers offer them. We must redefine the rules of the game, providing a service attractive to users. After all, the user is the person that understands where they want to go and who they want to be accompanied by.
Analytics solutions provide a method for increasing customer engagement by analyzing large volumes of information through highly sophisticated mathematical models customized to the interests of each company. Obtained results are assessed step-by-step providing, trends and behavioral frameworks that allow customization of services, maintaining risks according to opportunities of each client.
By introducing more information, opportunities arise for possible growth and improvements for each specific situation. Services become digital, dynamic and evolving, close to the customer, and able to perform immediate analysis in order to identify needed changes and next steps to implement the ideal strategy to achieve improved financial results. When one already has established objectives, these should focus on fulfilling the challenges proposed, seeking the relevance of the information and its role in improving services.
By using an analytics platform that meets all of these qualities and can be implemented simply, and in addition, has the ability to handle large volumes of information, the necessary scalability to comply with regulatory requirements and habeas data, and can process all this information at a rate that meets the expectations of both the customers and suppliers who use it, banks and financial institutions can quickly start using the information of their customers to create a great impact on its customers and on the market.
It is important that financial organizations can deliver differentiated services as quickly as retailers do, ease of access to make your business more attractive, resulting not only service opportunities but in margins of benefits. This does not mean to replace the methods previously used, but as a complement for both the user and the financial entity to search for the best possible service.