The world of data is nothing new. Information has been captured and stored in databases for decades. If you think about it, consumers’ expectations for personalization and customization used to be fairly minimal. Information on a person such as name, address, age and birth date was likely the extent of a financial institution’s (FI’s) data library.
Now, enter the age of technology and the development of consumer electronic devices. This has brought about a new era – the Age of the Consumer. Today, consumers are driven by three basic needs:
- Convenience – Accommodate my busy life and make it easy.
- Customization – Make everything personalized to my needs.
- Connection – Help me be a part of the Internet of Everything.
Creating the optimal consumer experience, however, requires the use of both big and small data. While big data can help spot business trends and support fact-based decision making, small data contains the real information – the traces of consumer behavior left behind by actions taken every second of every day.
FIs looking to take their data strategies to the next level should focus on the following key areas:
- Prioritizing the right capabilities to power big and small data strategies
- Running big and small data plans simultaneously
- Going beyond what’s visible to the naked eye
The ability to use data for predictive and prescriptive analytics is how FIs will lead to convenience, customization and connection and the knowledge they need to make a consumer’s financial life easier. This type of hyper-personalization is simply a means to an end, and that end is an extraordinary consumer experience.
