using analytics and business intelligence

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: Tools of the Trade
Using Analytics and
Business Intelligence
Technology for Growth
– The Future is Now
Paul Field
Matt Essieh
By Matt Essieh and Paul Field
W
HAT ARE THE KEY strategies for growth in your broker/
dealer? And how do they relate to your bank or credit
union as a whole, including the core retail banking
function and other groups, such as wealth management?
The path to achieving growth may vary from firm to firm, but
certain themes are common among CEOs and CIOs: Increasing my share of the customer’s “wallet”; improving customer
satisfaction and loyalty; knowing client needs so that the right
solutions are presented at the right time; serving mass-market
clients more cost-effectively.
What, then, is the role of technology?
Where We Are. For many years technology in the bank
broker/dealer focused on better processing—getting the business booked and the advisor paid. Referrals from branches
were plentiful, and margins on packaged products were ample.
More recently, however, referrals have declined and margins
have been compressed. At the same time, market forces and
regulatory concerns have driven technology investments toward
risk management and compliance.
While these activities will continue to occupy attention, the
strategic value of technology today lies in supporting profitable
growth and operational efficiency.
Meeting these dual goals is demanding and complex, and
requires a new generation of technology solutions. These
include, in particular, new tools for state-of-the-art analytics
and business intelligence.
The New Wave. Business analytics are integrated portfolios of
applications designed to deliver complete, consistent, accurate
and timely information that decision-makers can use directly to
improve business performance. Today’s advanced analytics,
in effect, unlock the data captured in different operational and
financial systems and deliver it in the form of clear, immediate
and actionable insights—not only for improving performance,
but for projecting and anticipating results into the future.
Business intelligence applications help you gain insight on
the critical issues of customer care, providing a single view
of the client across a variety of products, services and even
demographic dimensions. Commanding this view enables you
to increase your share of wallet, enhance customer satisfaction and anticipate the needs of clients for additional products
and services.
Matt Essieh is President of EAI Information Systems, Inc.
(Beaverton, OR). Paul Field is a Consulting Associate with
Kehrer Saltzman & Associates.
38
BISM Tools of the Trade Supplement / Autumn 2012
Together, advanced analytics and business intelligence are
the engine that can support a total, integrated, client experience. More importantly, they offer a path to the integration of
client-centered services beyond the broker/dealer, into the
retail bank and other areas, including wealth management.
The Opportunities. The potential opportunities are significant. Competition is intensifying as banks, credit unions and
broker/dealers fight for market share in a difficult economic
environment where spreads are compressed, fees are under
attack and overall earnings are under pressure. Having the
ability to bring together operational, financial and client data,
compile it in an integrated view across the institution’s silos,
and filter it for actionable policies and sales practices is the only
way that banks and broker/dealers will succeed in the future.
Fortunately, the future is now. Advanced analytics and business intelligence technology is available today, and can be
outsourced to a third-party firm if the bank or broker/dealer’s
current technology resources are more skilled in other areas
or stretched (and whose aren’t?).
The Challenge. What lies in the way of achieving these
opportunities? The right technology, of course, is the starting
point. The best analytics and business intelligence applications
can pull together a single view of the client from brokerage
accounts to retail banking to consumer loans to mortgages to
wealth management services.
The best technology, however, can only illuminate—not solve
—traditional institutional and cultural issues. How is revenue
made by each of the bank’s different silos? How is success
measured? How are managers motivated? How are incentives
paid to sales and service personnel? The devil, as they say, is
in the details. These human factors are the continuing barriers
to implementation of the total client experience.
But today’s analytics and business intelligence technology
can shine a powerful light on traditional organizational impediments by addressing questions such as:
• Who are our most profitable clients? What is their lifetime
value? What products will they need and want, and when?
• What will retain a client who is considering switching banks?
• What is the role of investment and insurance services, and
how can the business grow?
• How can we identify customers who are receptive to buying certain products or services from us, and what messages
should we use to engage with them?
Answers to these questions are available today. The future
is now. o
ready to adapt to your needs.
e ai i nfo s ys. com
The triangle. Amazing in its strength, support and
flexibility. Ready to adapt to the need at hand — just
like EAI Information Systems, the industry leader in
information technology for bank and independent
broker-dealers. For nearly 20 years, EAI has been
helping financial institutions manage their retail
investment programs. Our web-based technology
fully supports front-line sales functions and back-office
operations, giving your reps, managers and compliance
officers the intuitive tools and integrated data they
need to be successful. Best of all, we customize and
scale our solutions to your specific needs and existing
systems. Strength. Support. Flexibility.
To learn more about how EAI can adapt to
your needs, call or click today.
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