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Many credit unions are starting to see returns on their data and analytics initiatives while improving the decision-making process across the organization. But despite some standout success stories, I still witness far too many failing data…

Delivering an Analytics Strategy that Works

Data Analytics is becoming the main driver of innovation in the financial services industry. A recent report shows that data analytics investments in the banking sector totaled $20.8 billion dollars in 2017 and will certainly continue to rise…

Data and Analytics Roles at your Credit Union

Analytics, Chief Data Officer, Credit Unions, Culture, Data analytics initiatives, Strategy

Digital innovation is sweeping across the financial services industry and creating opportunities for banks and credit unions to leverage data as a source of competitive advantage. Until recently, most credit unions were delegating data management…

Can Data Analytics Improve Financial Wellness?

It’s a harsh reality. Many U.S. consumers are struggling financially. According to the Federal Reserve Board, four in ten Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense. As consumer debt rises and savings rates decline, credit unions…

Data Analytics: The Winning Game Plan for Deposit Growth

Analytics, Credit Unions, Data analytics initiatives, Member service

For years, financial institutions have enjoyed the abundance of low-cost deposits. Today, we are in a new era of banking, with deposit acquisition becoming a significant point of focus for most credit unions. The change represents another consequence…

Why the Lag Part 2: Solutions to Top Data Analytics Challenges

Analytics, Chief Data Officer, Credit Unions, Culture

If you have reviewed the some of the important steps and hurdles to overcome for credit unions to improve their analytics maturity outlined in our first article on Why the Lag, then you are ready for some more steps in the process. Challenge:…

Why the Lag?

How Credit Unions Can Quickly Improve their Analytics Maturity (Part 1) Is credit union leadership still moving cautiously and slowly when it comes to adopting data analytics technology? Yes, according to The National Survey on Credit…

Techniques to Combat Attrition through Analytics

You have probably heard the following statistic - it costs up to twenty-five times more for an organization to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. 1 Churn. Turnover. Attrition. No matter how you phrase it, losing members is…

Leveraging Analytics to Increase Member Engagement

Credit Unions

Who doesn’t want to improve their member’s engagement with your credit union? No one? I didn’t think so. What’s the best way to engage our current members? How will we measure what works? These are common questions our credit union…

The Transformational Value of Prescriptive Analytics

Analytics, Credit Unions, Prescriptive Analytics

Why credit unions should embrace the next frontier in advanced analytics to predict and prescribe outcomes. Advances in data analytics are providing credit unions with powerful new tools to gain insights into their members' needs and purchasing…

The Link Between Exceptional Member Service and Data Analytics

Analytics, Credit Unions, Member service

If your credit union is seeking new ways to deliver exceptional member experiences that drive revenue and build loyalty, it’s time to put your member data to work. By 2020, Gartner predicts that more than 40 percent of all data analytics projects…

Hiring a Chief Data Officer? 5 Qualities Not to Overlook

Analytics, Banks, Chief Data Officer, Credit Unions

With the rapid rise of data analytics, there is a high demand for a key player in the workplace — the Chief Data Officer. The CDO is quickly becoming a new hero for financial institutions ushering in digital transformation. From uncovering…

The Role of the Chief Data Officer

Analytics, Banks, Chief Data Officer, Credit Unions

For years, financial Institutions have been using data analytics to seek out opportunities, reduce costs, create efficiencies, make better and faster decisions, and ultimately improve the customer experience. Though many have begun the data…

Top Data Analytics Mistakes to Avoid

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions, Data analytics initiatives, Leadership, Project implementation, Strategy

Why do some data and analytics projects fail, while others go on to produce significant business outcomes? Today, many financial institutions are actively using data analytics to turn their data into actionable and profitable insights. However,…

Part 2: The Data Analytics Strategy Roadmap

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions, Project implementation

If you have reviewed the important first six steps outlined in our first article on Building an Analytics Roadmap, then you are ready for the final steps to complete the journey. To recap, we firmly believe that analytics in the bank and credit…

The Data Analytics Strategy Roadmap: Critical Steps Every FI Should Take, Part 1

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions, Strategy

Here is a surprising statistic I recently read: more than 90% of strategic plans are not successfully accomplished with 67% of failed plans attributed to a breakdown in execution. (1) I’m a firm believer that strategy without execution will…

Technology Innovations Changing the Financial Institution Ecosystem

The Financial Applications for AI and Machine Learning If you've been following our FIRST and SECOND installments of this three-part series on machine learning and artificial intelligence, then you are ready for our conclusion of how these…

Demystifying Artificial Intelligence

Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Banks, Credit Unions, Machine Learning

By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard the terms “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning”. If you haven’t already, take a quick read of our previous article where we explain the basics of machine learning. Today, banks and credit…

Explaining the Basics of Machine Learning

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions, Machine Learning

Explaining the Basics of Machine Learning Financial institutions are no strangers to Machine Learning. Many institutions are investing heavily in this technology to improve cyber security, customer segmentation, and marketing campaign management. To…

Winning with Data: Top Analytics Use Cases for 2017

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions

Data is rising at an incredible pace, covering all aspects of a consumer’s life. In the past two years, more data has been created than in the entire previous history of the human race. (1) 2017 has certainly been the year that data and analytics…

Use Member Data to Anticipate Key Life Events

The market for data and predictive analytics is growing fast— and for a good reason. According to the Aberdeen Group, companies using predictive analytics enjoyed a 73% higher lift in revenue than companies that do not use this technology…

A Credit Union’s Guide to Establishing Effective Data Governance

If data isn't governed properly, your credit union could be at risk. Consider these best practices for a well-managed data governance strategy. The foundation for a successful analytics program is data. Without accurate, quality data, it’s…

Steward Your Data: Why Data Governance Is Critical to Your Analytics Strategy

Analytics, Credit Unions, Strategy

For any credit union that aspires to derive insight and business value from their data, the discipline of data governance is essential. What Is Data Governance? Think of data governance as a quality control discipline that governs the overall…

Cultivating a Data-Driven Culture Within The Credit Union

Analytics, Credit Unions, Leadership

Achieving success with data analytics isn’t just a matter of acquiring robust BI software or hiring a data scientist and teams of analysts. It requires a shift in how the credit union embraces data which requires the participation of all employees…

Putting Strategy Before Software

Warren Buffet famously once said: “Price is what you pay, value is what you get.” Consider the last technology and software investments your credit union made to keep the organization running. Are you getting true value from the dollars…

Are Data Lakes a Better Way to Analyze Member Data?

Analytics, Credit Unions, General Information, Strategy

Understanding The Benefits & Problems with Data Lakes As more credit unions want to up their competitive game through data and analytics, the debate between data warehouses and data lakes continues. While solution providers and analysts…

Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake: Which One Is Right for Your Credit Union?

It has been a long journey from the early days of credit union business intelligence solutions. As your credit union leverages the benefits of a data analytics program, you will need all the capabilities required to make it easy for management…

Intuition vs. Data-Driven Strategy- Where Do You Fall On The Spectrum?

For years, the idea that “big data” could somehow create real business opportunities for banks and credit unions lurked in the background. How could analyzing statistics and volumes of data replace historical information, gut instincts,…

Seven Steps to Align Your Business Strategy with Your Analytics Strategy

Analytics, Credit Unions, Strategy

As I travel around the country working with financial institutions that are ready to implement a data analytics program, I realize a common denominator throughout them. Many have yet to align their data analytics strategy with their overall…

A:360 Podcast #21 - Analytics and Process Improvement

Today's A:360 talks about how success with analytics can directly support your process improvement initiatives. You'll hear about how processes can be made significantly more efficient through a deeper analysis into your organization's application…

A:360 Podcast #20 - The 4 R's of Analytics-Driven Digital Marketing

Today's A:360 discusses an idea known as "The Four R's". "The Four R's" is a digital marketing framework The Knowlton Group created to conceptualize analytics-driven digital marketing efforts that the modern consumer expects. The Four R's…

A:360 Podcast #19 - Crawl, Walk, Run Progression of Analytics

Analytics, Credit Unions, DW/BI, Strategy

Today's A:360 discusses the importance of the "crawl, walk, run" progression when getting started with analytics. Feel free to read the summary of the podcast below or scroll towards the bottom of the page to watch or listen! Like most major…

Starting the Data Analytics Journey Panel Discussion

Analytics, Credit Unions, DW/BI

A few backs at the 2017 Credit Union Analytics Summit hosted by First Tech Federal Credit Union in Redmond, Washington, Brewster Knowlton moderated a panel with five fantastic industry leaders in the analytics space. The panelists included: Naveen…

Fourth Stage of Analytics Maturity: Analytical Enterprise

Analytics, DW/BI

In my last post, I described the characteristics of organizations at the third, “Analytical Aspirations” stage of the analytics maturity model. In this post, we will dive into what an organization at the fourth stage, the “Analytical Enterprise”…

A:360 Podcast #18 - Creating a Data-Driven Culture

Analytics, DW/BI, Strategy

Today's A:360 discusses why developing and nurturing a data-driven culture is as crucial to your analytics success as your technology implementation. Many fail to realize that analytics is as much an exercise in change management as it is in…

A:360 Podcast #17 - Starting with a Question

Today's A:360 discusses why it is critical to boil analytics down to well-defined questions. A question is the fundamental building block of analytics. Well-defined questions can shape and simplify the delivery of analytics to an organization.…

The Credit Union Executive's Guide to Data and Analytics

Analytics, Credit Unions, DW/BI

Have you ever wondered what it takes to enable your organization to become data-driven? For a limited time, I am giving away my "Credit Union Executive's Guide to Data and Analytics" eBook FOR FREE! To get the eBook, complete the form below…

Is Your Data Being Held Hostage?

More and more financial institutions are investing in developing their own analytics teams. Data warehousing and other modern analytics platforms are becoming the norm and not the exception. As these organizations start to develop their data…

A:360 Podcast #16 - Measuring Analytics ROI

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions, DW/BI, Strategy

Today's A:360 discusses a few suggested ways to measure the return on investment (ROI) for your analytics initiatives. A common question I receive is "how do we determine the effectiveness of our analytics efforts?". This podcast's intent…

A:360 Podcast #15 - A Phased Approach to Analytics

Today's A:360 discusses why it is highly recommended that most organizations take an iterative, phased approach to developing their analytics solution. Watch and Listen Click to Watch on YouTube. Listen to the Podcast Click to Listen…

Third Stage of Analytics Maturity: Analytical Aspirations

Analytics, DW/BI, Strategy

In my last post, I described the characteristics of organizations at the second, "Localized Analytics" stage of the analytics maturity model. In this post, we will dive into what an organization at the third stage, known as the "Analytics Aspirations"…

Guest Podcast from Best Innovation Group: Becoming Data-Driven

Analytics, Credit Unions, DW/BI

I had the great pleasure of having a podcast discussion with John Best of the Best Innovation Group through the BigCast podcast. During this conversation we cover a few major topics: The six characteristics of a data-driven organization. Using…

data analytics for credit unions and banks

5 Reasons to Invest in Data Analytics in 2017

2016 was a great year for analytics throughout many industries. The financial industry seemed to especially embrace analytics and take the necessary first steps towards becoming a more data-driven industry. Back in the beginning of 2016,…

Second Stage of Analytics Maturity: Localized Analytics

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions, DW/BI, Strategy

In my last post, I talked about some of the defining traits of an organization at the lowest, first, stage of the "Analytics Maturity Curve". The second stage of the "Analytics Maturity Curve" is what Tom Davenport refers to as the "Localized…

First Stage of Analytics Maturity: Analytically Impaired

Analytics, Banks, Credit Unions, DW/BI, Strategy

Where does your organization lie on the analytics maturity curve? This question is functionally equivalent to: What is the state of data analytics at your organization? How do we compare to others in the areas of business intelligence, data,…

A:360 Podcast #14 - What is a Report Inventory?

Today's A:360 answers the questions "what is a report inventory, and why does one matter?". A report inventory is integral to identifying opportunities for quick wins and short-term ROI for your analytics initiatives. Listen, watch or read…

A:360 Podcast #13 - Common Pushbacks for Analytics

Banks, Credit Unions, DW/BI, Leadership, Strategy

Today's A:360 discusses some of the common pushbacks that I often hear surrounding data, analytics, and becoming a data-driven organization. In this podcast, I'll dispell some of these common pushbacks and explain how you can overcome these…

A:360 Podcast #12 - What is Big Data?

Today's A:360 discusses what the term big data really means. There are many interpretations and misconceptions about big data. In this podcast, we will provide a solid definition of big data and discuss what most people are referring to when…

A:360 Podcast #11 - BI Tools Alone Are Not Enough

Today's A:360 discusses why BI software alone is not enough to accomplish your analytics objectives. BI tools are an integral (and necessary!) part of your analytics strategy. However, they alone will not solve all of your objectives for data…

A:360 Podcast #10 - What is a Data Inventory?

Today's A:360 discusses the significance of a data inventory when beginning your data and analytics program. From understanding what data sources and applications your organization possesses to understanding in what format each data source…

A:360 Podcast #9 - Why Analytics Requires a Top-Down Approach

Today's A:360 discusses why analytics requires a top-down approach. A top-down approach enables you to create a blueprint for your analytics program before getting started with development. Would you build a house without a blueprint? Of…

Podcast #8 - Analytics and "The Flywheel Effect"

Strategy

Today's A:360 talks about analytics and "The Flywheel Effect". "The Flywheel Effect" comes from Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, and is an excellent metaphor for developing an analytics program at your organization. Watch and Listen Click…

A:360 Podcast #7 - How Can You Turn Data into Information?

Today's A:360 talks about how you can data into information. Data is simply raw numbers. Information has meaning and explains the raw numbers. Understanding the difference between data and information is critical. Knowing how to turn data…

A:360 Podcast #6 - Why Everyone Should Learn SQL

DW/BI, SQL Lessons, SQL Tips, Strategy

Today's "A:360" discusses why as many people as possible should learn SQL. SQL, Structured Query Language, is the primary language used to interact with a database and is a critical foundation for analytics knowledge. Between strong career…

A:360 Podcast #5 - How Do You Know If You Have the Right KPIs?

Credit Unions, DW/BI, Strategy

Today's "A:360" podcast answers the question "How do you know if you have the right KPIs?". I discuss three quick ways you can tell if you have the right KPIs, and what key points you should consider surround your key performance indicators. Watch…

A:360 Podcast #4 - What is an Enterprise Data Strategy?

Today's "A:360" podcast answers the question "What is an enterprise data strategy?". I describe what an enterprise data strategy is, what it must include, and some of the key points it needs to address. A well-defined enterprise data strategy…

A:360 Podcast #3 - What is a Data Warehouse?

DW/BI, General Information, Strategy

Today's "A:360" podcast answers the question "What is a data warehouse?". Learn what makes a data warehouse different from a "regular database" and what one could do for your organization. Watch and Listen Click to Watch on YouTube. Listen…

A:360 Podcast #2 - What is a KPI?

Today's "A:360" podcast talks about KPIs and answers the question "What is a KPI?". Learn what makes a KPI different from a standard metric and why they are so critical for your organization's strategic success. Take a look at our previous…

A:360 Podcast #1 - What Does It Mean to Be Data-Driven?

In this A:360 podcast, we discuss what it means for an organization to be data-driven. We describe some of the traits and features that a data-driven organization possesses. Watch on YouTube Listen to the Podcast Podcast Transcription Welcome…

A:360 Podcast #0 - Intro to A:360

Subscribe and listen to the A:360 podcast on iTunes, play the YouTube video, listen to audio, or read the transcript! Next Tuesday (10/11/16) we will be releasing Podcast 001: What It Means to Be Data-Driven! Presentation and Audio Podcast Follow…

New Podcast Series - A:360

We are incredibly excited to (finally) reveal our soon-to-be-released A:360 analytics podcast series! What is A:360? A:360 stands for "Analytics:360". The podcast will discuss a variety of topics in the field of data and analytics; a 360-degree…

Data analytics and KPIs or key performance indicators

Are You Tracking the Right KPIs?

Data is everywhere. Some of us are using data better than others, yet there is no denying that we all have vast amounts of data at our disposal. But remember, data is not information. Raw data must be turned into actionable information for…

What's Holding You Back from Being Data-Driven?