1. BANKERSA | Edition 2038
B DATA AND ANALYTICS
Pat Maqetuka, chief data officer at
Nedbank Group Technology says banks
need to “create the foundational building
blocks” that will ensure client data is
leveraged in a more secure and effective way,
to expedite the empowerment of teams.
“The building blocks,” she says, “are
vision, strategy and advanced analytics
to extract value; data governance that not
only makes the organisation compliant
from a regulatory perspective, but also
mature in terms of data-sharing service
capability; data technology to support the
emergence of data reservoirs to enable
value-generating features; and data culture
to effectively embed data and analytics in
the processes of the enterprise.”
Visible and actionable change
According to Rix, the future is being shaped
by technology, with visible and actionable
changes coming in the next decade. “Firstly,
deep personalisation will take priority and
every customer will experience completely
customised, holistic service based on their
individual needs. AI will facilitate the scale
and speed to make this viable. We’ll also
see prices driven down across the board,
with volumes increasing exponentially,
as machines make it feasible to multitask
and perform business functions much
faster. We’ll see industries such as banking,
telecommunications, health and wellness,
travel and more start to merge in these
B
anks have volumes of untapped
historical data that, if done ethically
and within the legal confines of the
Protection of Personal Information
(POPI) Act once it comes into effect, can be
used to achieve high levels of trust, retain
customers, win a greater share of business,
and build loyalty. It was on this premise
that “making big data actionable” was
included as one of Financial Brand’s Top
10 Banking Trends for 2016.
New business administrator for the
platform division of Silica Holdings, Siyanda
Pali, says big data analytics has become
increasingly critical to organisations.
“We produce about 2.5-billion gigabytes
of data per day, and banks deal with a
great deal of it,” he says. “Coupled with
increasing complexity – such as the ability
to handle growing volumes of data, and
being able to share it with velocity (the
speed at which data flows on a constant
basis and variability) – and expanding
kinds and sources of data, being proficient
in this sphere will add great value to banks.”
Absa’s Chief Technology Officer Peter Rix
is enthusiastic about what this means for the
future of banking. “In today’s world, we have
all this seamless data input from devices that
are recording and observing everything we
do. We could be storing the data, collating
it, analysing it in the cloud and learning
from it,” he commented on an Absa blog
addressing artificial intelligence (AI).
Big data and the analysis thereof could give banks a major
competitive advantage. Babalwa Shota digs deeper.
Analytics –
a critical game changer for banks
integrated ecosystems. Some industries will
die and this will give rise to new ones.”
Sharing her own predictions, Maqetuka
says big data and analytics will give those
banks using them a major edge over
their competitors. “Client information,
if leveraged appropriately, provides the
platform for organisations to proactively
anticipate clients’ needs, create operational
efficiencies, accelerate product innovation,
manage risk, and define and share
information across the enterprise, thereby
empowering internal teams,” she says.
Being resistant to change because of fear
of the big cyber unknown is undoubtedly
detrimental to business, as proven by
former telecommunication giants Nokia
and Blackberry, and struggling Yahoo!.
Maqetuka cautions against this, pointing
out that big data and analytics should be
top of mind for corporate leaders because
they “differentiate winners and losers”.
Still, venturing into the unknown has
its own challenges, including determining
what data to use. Maqetuka insists the
highly mathematically and statistically
intensive analytics of data and a shift in
mind-set are key to yielding positive benefits.
Many businesses are reluctant to venture
into such a space due to security risks.
However, with the data collected over years
of logged customer calls, transactions and
interactions, patterns of irregularities are
identifiable when thoroughly analysed.
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B DATA ANALYTICS
Banker20_BanksBigData.indd 38 2016/12/19 10:05 AM