Big Data, Big Opportunities, Big Responsibilities: Navigating a Mutually Beneficial Path

In her Money Experience Summit presentation, Jane Barratt, Chief Advocacy Officer at MX, talks about how data can drive better opportunities in banking. To see the whole presentation, register here.

Barratt starts by talking about where we’ve been historically when it comes to big data. “Data, especially big data, has traditionally been used for internal purposes,” Barratt says. “It’s almost like a mono-directional flow from humans of the world into companies.” 

“The primary use case,” she adds, “has been to sell you more stuff. Data is used to keep your attention and keep you on the platform as long as possible, to serve you up more ads or more services. And in financial services, data has been used to profile customers, to put them into segments that are then used for acquisition, for cross-selling, and for retention. The bottom line — share of wallet — has always been the game.” 

Barratt says that a primary question for companies has been, “How many products can we get into the hands of our customers?” By contrast, she suggests that companies should be pursuing the most mutually beneficial options possible. She says, “Within financial services, this idea of using data to be mutually beneficial is one that's important to explore because it’s such an interesting time in our economy and our society.” 

The goal here is to evolve from a mono-directional focus to “broaden our lens into more of a win-win-win focus.” By doing this, financial services companies shift to long-term thinking and customer-driven initiatives. These initiatives bring big opportunities beyond what organizations have previously done. Barratt says, “Enabling people to connect their accounts and have an inclusive 360-degree view of their finances — that's table stakes.” Now it’s critical to think about what to do with that 360-degree view, including guiding customers toward on-time bill payments and helping them get better lending rates, so they don’t have to turn to predatory lenders.

“The days of financial institutions just being repositories of assets and sources of credit are gone,” Barratt says. “We have to acknowledge that being able to have what is essentially a commodity product differentiator and being differentiated only by a brand name has transformed completely into, ‘What is the experience that you are giving me?’ and ‘What outcome can you help drive for me?’”

Outcome-driven banking is the key for navigating a path that’s beneficial for customers and bankers alike. 

Also read our Ultimate Guide to Data Transformation.