'Making Analytics Effective In Real Time Is A Concern For Banks'

Considering the mammoth data volumes being handled by the enterprises today, finding the right data is like finding a needle in a haystack. RK Saraf, Chief General Manager IT, SBI, gives an overview of the best practices that banks should follow to improve their data management.

How can CIOs improve business processes and customer satisfaction using insights from analytics?

In the past, technology has been more transactional focused. Analytics is the next phase in the evolution of technology. Analytics will not only enable banks to know exactly what the customer wants, but will also give them an overview of customer value proposition. With the help of analytics, banks can design products and services around customer needs. Moreover, analytics helps in risk management. It also helps in predictive analysis, where it can predict and pre-empt rather than wait for the result.

What are the growing concerns for banking CIOs when it comes to data management and analytics?

Managing growing data has always been a concern, especially for the larger banks. Now the matter of concern is also to use the right tool which will help banks to do data analytics in real time, followed by modelling, and validation, to make analytics more effective.

What sort of analytics should banks invest in?

Some of the analytics areas that banks should invest in include customer behaviour analytics, risk profile and performance management. Analytics should touch areas like cost, revenue generation, future potential and many other isolated areas which contain critical information. All these areas can be brought together by using analytics, and predict the future of the organisation.

Can analytics create the real differentiation for an enterprise?

If one coniders the platforms on which enterprises are running their business, one doesn’t differ much from the other, as it delivers the same kind of services which are offered by the service providers. If there is a possibility of analytics that can differentiate both the external and internal world - as in how banks connect with the customers and how customers perceive the services offered by the bank, and internally highlight the nature of control and performance management the bank has - there will be no limit to the benefits awaiting in the bag.

At your end, how much of the IT budget is concentrated on analytics, and how do you see it benefitting you?

We have a good deal of IT budget concentrating on analytics, though I cannot put an exact figure to it. We have a data warehouse initiative, and it is a seven year project. Given the humongous size of our database, we are looking at consolidating our data into a single view.