Business Intelligence in Financial Services

Business Intelligence in Financial Services is proving to be a game changer.

Business intelligence is a novel technology backed by AI. It is a combination of strategies and processes. Simply put, BI collects, cleans, formats, and analyzes data.

No big deal? Think again!

In a world that is ruled by data, this is a superpower. 

Business intelligence is, in fact, a CFO’s best friend. It enables users to perform a wide range of activities with great ease. Since their advent, BI solutions have played a key role in banking and finance services. Business Intelligence in Financial Services offers priceless tools for risk assessment and cost management plans. They also provide detailed customer insights – a 360-degree view of the customer, which is priceless. So, in our current era, where data is everything, BI has become a valuable asset that offers support in decision-making. 

Let’s discuss this in detail. First, let’s talk about the elusive 360. 

The Need for a 360-View of Customers and Buyers in the Store

This technology is growing in popularity. It has become a well-favored tool among companies worldwide. A recent report predicts growth in the global business market. The predicted price for business intelligence and analytics software applications is $18 billion by 2026.

The concept of a 360-degree view is vital for businesses to function while predicting customer needs. This paves the path for meaningful insights and allows for more personalized interaction. The benefits of this method are listed below.

1. Superior Customer Understanding: The 360-degree view allows business owners to predict customers’ needs, allowing for more personalized interactions and rapport-building.

2. Personalized Marketing: Businesses can understand the customer’s preferences through the customer journey map. This map enables businesses to unravel customers’ thinking and curate marketing strategies, ensuring higher engagement and conversion rates.

3. Improved Customer Service: A 360-view means that the service representatives can access a customer’s entire history. Based on the client’s past behavior patterns, this method provides customizations. This personalization is evident in their interactions with you. In turn, it boosts customer satisfaction.

4. Operational Efficiency: With 360-degree view data collection, businesses can streamline their processes, making operations smoother and more efficient. The 360-degree customer view is a method that has revolutionized customer-service provider interactions. These conversations give clients a unified view of the customer’s journey. They also enable collaboration between different departments.

Why Do You Need a BI Strategy for Your Financial Business?

Technology is rapidly growing, and the amount of data generated in today’s business world is enormous. We create around 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day!

 Legacy financial processes have started failing. They don’t have the right tools to handle this much data. An efficient business intelligence strategy would be your knight in shining armor. It enables you to measure and evaluate performance. You can also identify competitive advantages and make informed, data-driven decisions. Other reasons why you should install this technology into your financial services include:

1. Better Decision Making

Business Intelligence implements Predictive Analysis to enrich the decision-making process. This derivative of AI can learn encoded data, recognize recurring patterns, and make accurate predictions. This greater visibility into potential outcomes based on past performances is the best tool for a business. Companies with an efficient BI strategy can gain insights on their customer behavior. This arms them with the ability to anticipate trends in the market and adjust business operations accordingly. Subsequently, the company’s risk of losses due to market shifts also drops.

Additionally, Business Intelligence improves communication between departments within the company. Employees can share meaningful insights from various datasets, removing the need to rely on anecdotal evidence. Working together towards a shared goal will boost efficiency and increase profits.

2. Increased Operational Efficiency

With a strong BI strategy, companies can streamline internal processes. They can also analyze employee behavior and performance to uncover hidden talent. Data analytics, a subset of BI, can shed light on how to optimize efficiencies within the organization. Companies with BI systems generally switch from manual, time-consuming labor to automated systems, which makes them more agile and frees up resources.

3. Solid Risk Management

Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning are potent tools for a business owner. These systems can also assess risks while predicting future trends. With these risk insights, companies can avoid making certain investments and commitments. This will help companies reduce losses that could hurt their bottom line if left unchecked.

4. Boosts Customer Retention

Financial business intelligence equips you with the most current information on customers. Banking and finance institutions can keep their marketing and sales teams armed. With BI’s help, your teams can recognize the organization’s most loyal and profitable clients. This information is gold as teams can concentrate their efforts on retaining these customers. They can also gain insight into the kind of customer that they can attract to their business, 

5. Offers Competitive Edge

Due to its long list of perks, the BI strategy has the power to give you a strong competitive edge in the market. It also helps you streamline the best BI solution vendor for your financial business. These services are also integrated with superior features.

6. Reducing Costs

Cost-effectiveness is a quality check for the business intelligence strategy you use. Using predictive analytics and other BI tools, budgeting becomes more precise. Resource allocation is thus streamlined, and opportunities for cost reduction are identified; an efficient BI strategy will oversee training offerings and associated costs as well. This will help you budget and reduce unforeseen spending. 

How Can You Build a Successful BI Strategy for Your Financial Services Business?

A solid BI strategy can improve customer retention, optimize costs, and provide competitive advantages. It is vital for your plans and business goals to align with your Business Intelligence strategy to make it a success. Here are the key steps involved in building an efficient BI strategy:

1. Assess and Define Your BI Ecosystem

Gather all the information you need before embarking on this journey. A sound data plan is vital for your implementation. It should include identifying data sources and visualizing a strategy. Gather relevance from your data sources (clients, projects, sales, marketing, finance, etc.) You can organize them by department, function, or business impact to streamline the process. Visualizing a strategy will encompass discussing the company’s vision with stakeholders. Create an alluring presentation for them with the help of a designer. In your presentation, be sure to highlight the reasons and benefits of a BI strategy.

2. Budgeting

Your immediate next step is to develop an accurate budget. Without planning, the BI strategy implementation process can be expensive and can cause financial strain for the company. Developing a strategy beforehand will prepare you for any unforeseen expenditure.

3. Assemble Your BI Team

Select a group of proficient employees to work as your BI implementation team. Include company stakeholders in the team to keep them in the loop. Your team should include an HR employee, a scheduling officer, one from the union, and a legal assistant. This will be your army, as it were, so ensure you make the right choices. 

4. Choose Your BI Platform

Your business goals are bound to change. Aim to install BI software that provides self-service templates and easy usability for beginners. This step is very important because it will define how your company is affected during and after implementation. Take your time, explore various platforms, and carefully make your pick.

5. Select Your BI Software Partner

This is a delicate journey. Be bold and decisive when you reach this step. Remember that the partner you choose will guide you throughout. Compare different partners to rate their different features. Lastly, combine this with previous reports and review them. Conducting demos is the most effective method for this step.

6. Plan User Training

Imagine if, after all the effort put into implementation, no employee is equipped to handle the aftermath. A true disaster! This is why planning early user training is so important. Once you have decided on a service provider, it’s time to plan your training program. Sometimes, service providers provide video training and live classes. This helps users set up and get familiar with the software. Training will help employees stay updated on insights and learn the best features.

7. Refine Your Data

This is the last stage of preparation to build a successful BI strategy. Refine your data structures and remove waste. The cleanest data possible will yield the best productivity results. The quality of data you enter into Power BI will affect the quality of insights you get, so it’s crucial not to underestimate this step.

How Does Business Intelligence Benefit Financial Services?

A solid BI strategy can improve customer retention, optimize costs, and provide competitive advantages. Here are some top benefits of implementing BI into your financial service strategy:

• Real-time insights: Financial BI can spontaneously access any financial data recorded, allowing for quicker and more informed decision-making.
• Improved reporting: Writing reports is a tedious job that can be automated with financial BI. This frees up employees to take part in analysis and interpretation.
• Cost savings and revenue growth: Financial BI can help businesses recognize areas of incompetence, cut costs, and discover new revenue streams.
• Increased efficiency: Financial BI can automate and streamline financial processes, reducing manual work and avoiding the risk of human error.
• Transparency and collaboration: With financial BI, communication between other departments and finance is reinforced.

How Can Fingent Help in Bringing Business Intelligence to Your Financial Service?

Fingent is known for using cutting-edge technology to ensure the best outcomes for clients. These technologies include machine learning, natural language processing, and more. These can be fashioned into valuable Business Intelligence tools customized for your business.

We can help your financial organization stay ahead of the competition. The software designed for you will ensure that your organization remains resilient regardless of any form of disruptive circumstance. Experts at Fingent empower businesses to maintain momentum with new developments. They also measure the effect of changes on customer requirements. Our custom software development experts at Fingent can help you understand everything you need to know about business intelligence.

Talk to us today.