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I’ve been on a mission to help people be more data driven for nearly 30 years. It has been both extremely rewarding and extremely frustrating at times. The quest to maximize investments in data & analytics has a multitude of twists and turns waiting around every corner trying to take the journey off the cliff of failed projects.
The three common characteristics I witness in organizations that successfully increase profitability and optimize operations through a transformation I call “being data driven” are captured in my “Three Cs”
Change is hard. As mortgage accounting manager (early in my career), I was in the process of completely streamlining 2 accounting clerks month end reconciliation work that took them both 5 days to complete. One afternoon I was on a tour of our headquarters which included a quick walk through the CEO of Barnett Bank’s office (acquired by NationsBank, which then acquired and became Bank of America) and this quote was hanging in his office:
“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more uncertain of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new order of things. For the initiator has the animosity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new ones.” – Machiavelli, 16th century author of “The Prince”
A perfect encapsulation of my situation at the time, and the moment I realized that the type of change I envisioned was more than a simple technology project, it would have to include convincing the naysayers and turning the lukewarm defenders into champions of the vision.
The innovative use of our technology resulted in reducing the work from 80 hours to 15 minutes and the employees ultimately became more valuable to my organization and began using data in ways we never anticipated.
Delivering the right information to the right people at the exact moment they need it is paramount to the vision of maximizing the value of your data & analytics efforts. Introducing a consistent cadence to this delivery provides a vehicle to make a significant impact with data. Find the use case that matters most and begin introducing and discussing the results of your data in monthly, weekly, or even daily meetings. The idea here is to engage your business partners in a setting where the data & analytics solution would be most impactful.
For example, the mortgage funnel/loan pipeline is a perfect candidate to introduce as a regular agenda item on a weekly sales forecast meeting:
There is an abundance of fruitful use cases to be gleaned from a mastery of analyzing this funnel and a proper cadence of reviewing/engaging, understanding, and reacting to changes in relevant metrics will result in better decision making and more profitable outcomes.
Which leads me to my final “C”, building a mindset of Continuous Improvement. The recent wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in the news seems distant and unachievable for those mired in manual, traditional reporting processes just focused on finding out “what happened?”
A transformation in your firm’s fundamental approach from being reactive to being proactive is achievable now, and improvements to business outcomes can be realized with a commitment to continuous improvement. There are solutions (such as Loan Vision Predictive Analytics & Modeling – LV PAM) to understand “why it happened?”, “what will happen?” and “what can we do to improve what happens?”
It is not a one and done proposition, commitment throughout the organization to the process of interrogating the numbers is an ongoing proposition. Certainly there will be some low hanging fruit which will provide some big wins early but the tree will continue to bear fruit for a long period of time, ensuring your firm is on a sustainable, profitable path.
By using technology that exists today (such as LV PAM) and paying special attention to the “Three Cs”, firms can begin to transform their profitability and operational efficiency and start their future of “being data-driven”.
Mr. Van Siclen is SVP, Client Strategies and is responsible for helping clients implement Teraverde®'s Sustainable Business Model to achieve and enhance profitability under all business conditions. Mr. Van Siclen has 30 years of experience solving complex profitability, performance and risk challenges with innovative technology solutions. His banking experience spans a broad array of banking products including mortgage, credit card, auto & equipment leasing. He served as the CFO of a $5b Business Unit of CIT Group and has emerged as an industry influencer in the advanced data & analytics space. Recognized as “America’s Top 100 Innovators in Data & Analytics (2018)” and “Global Top 100 Data & Analytics Leaders (2020)”
