There are almost as many ways to apply new data accrual and management techniques as there are emerging sources of intelligence. BTN spoke with tech pros and analysts to find out some of ways in which advanced data can be applied.
- Marketing
As Alliant Credit Union's Mona Leung points out, social media information can be an invaluable source of data on how people are responding to marketing campaigns, and that data that can be incorporated into more traditional CRM systems. And social networking sites themselves are a good place to gain extra intelligence on bank branding. "There's an opportunity to pick up end user sentiment through social media, and to fine tune marketing campaigns," says Mike Versace, research director, IDC Financial Insights. - Location
Geolocation information, or data about a mobile user's geographic location, counts as "big data" for most analysts, who say information about where consumers are shopping can help inform special offers or loyalty programs. "There's a merchant intelligence that's possible here, optimizing offers that can really drive a lot of growth in mobile banking," Versace says. - Fraud prevention
S Ramakrishnan, group vice president and general manager, Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications, says companies have a better chance to spot people (internal or external) behaving badly, by having a broader view of relationships and activity. "When you are accumulating large amounts of data, what people are doing and where they are using that data is a part of that. There are some hidden behaviors that can be uncovered as a result of analysis of that data," he says. - Investing
Unstructured data from sources such as financial or personal blogs can provide insight into the tastes and appetites of consumers when it comes to retirement or wealth management. "It's something that advisors can use to follow customers. It can give better and more meaningful information on a client. But it's still pretty early in the adoption cycle to see this used as a data source for investment management," says Omer Sohail, a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP and Banking & Security Business Analytics and Information Management Leader. - Mortgages
Residential real estate is an ideal venue for alternative data, with a wide variety of information available from public sources, such as homeownership demographics, regional price changes, and blogs and social networking pages dedicated to homebuyers and sellers, which can give a lender a market pulse when combined with static sources such as real estate listings and consumer account information. When run through analytics, there's more information that can be used for underwriting, decisioning, credit risk and pricing. "Lenders can target customers more specifically because you can pull more data together to get a comprehensive view," says Brian McCarthy, managing director, Accenture Financial Services Analytics, North America.
This story originally appeared at Bank Technology News.
John Adams is contributing editor for American Banker.
