A recent study by EY (formerly Ernst & Young) reveals that high-growth financial services companies are twice as likely to focus on data and analytics in revenue-generating areas such as marketing and sales.
The study also finds other correlations between high-growth financial services firms and their ability to leverage data for deeper understanding and better business execution. For instance, more than one-quarter (27%) of high-growth companies—those achieving EBITDA growth of 15% or more in each of the past two years—describe themselves as “excellent” at obtaining useful insights from data that improve their overall competitiveness and performance, compared to just 12% of low-growth companies. Thirty-five percent of high-growth companies rate themselves as “highly mature” in these capabilities.
Organizational functions where analytics is most leveraged within high-growth financial services companies include: sales (24%), finance (22%), and marketing (14%).
Still, the study reveals that data-driven achievements for top performing financial services companies extend beyond technological investments. High-growth companies are more likely to increase spending in areas such as change management, personnel, and skill development. In both of these areas, high-growth companies plan to increase their spending by at least 20% over the next two years, compared to just 7% spending increases planned by low-growth companies.
Financial services companies that balance their investments effectively across their people, processes, and technologies can obtain greater analytical insights and achieve accelerated business growth. One TIBCO Spotfire client—the treasury reporting division of a large U.S. bank with global operations—performs balance sheet risk assessments for its worldwide locations. While there are over 100 business analysts and reporting specialists across the bank’s worldwide locations that manage and navigate a series of Excel spreadsheets to show balance sheet risk for the company, there is no single point of reference or report for all users that clearly shows the risk by continent or country.
To address the tedious and time-consuming task of performing balance sheet risk assessments across hundreds of countries and currency types, while providing a standardized approach for all users across all regions, the bank’s treasury reporting division started a pilot with TIBCO Spotfire’s visual analytics solution.
Users around the world can now access a single, consolidated Spotfire dashboard based on multiple flat files, which can be interactively modified by users. Data visualizations such as map charts and dynamic colors instantly convey overall risk for countries and regions. Users can quickly drill down into a more detailed view of each region and explore the data.
Users estimate they’re performing the balance sheet risk assessment 85% to 90% faster with Spotfire. The speed and clarity of decision-making is enabling the bank to better assess and weigh regional risk and manage its investment portfolio more effectively.
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