Big data driving financial services sector

Big data driving financial services sector

The financial services sector has been one of the biggest users of big data, and that only looks set to continue, according to a new study by the University of Oxford and IBM’s Institute of BusinessValue.

While certain sectors are still cautious about making the most of big data and analytics, the majority – 71 per cent – of the financial services sector is already using it.

This is a rise from the 36 per cent of organisations within the sector who were making use of it to some extent two years ago, according to the new research by the education institution and IBM.

Big data offers a competitive advantage to the sector, enabling it to begin the slow climb back up to the profit margins it used to enjoy prior to the credit crunch, Likhit Wagle, partner and the global banking and financial markets leader in IBM Global Business Services, told Forbes.

Big data – such as the latest insights gleaned from daily transactions, along with customer services records, click streams and location data – is being used by firms in the financial services sector to develop new business models.

However, one area in which financial services firms are failing to make the most of all that big data offers is in the audio and social data realms. Just 21 per cent of companies were found to be analysing audio data – including that created in call centres amongst other places – and just 27 per cent were found to be analysing social data, the research found.

“There’s almost no industry better poised to profit from big data — or in need of a boost — than the financial services industry. By understanding where the gaps are, they can set the pace for the rest of the economy,” Wagle told the publication.

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