With data now considered as valuable as oil, industries are scrambling to monetise the information they hold. But as Simone Tilley, chair of the CIF’s governance, data and reporting stream, tells Australian Broker, data can also be used to deliver better customer outcomes
With the Senate’s passing of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) legislation being the most recent step in the march towards open banking, it has never been more crucial for organisations to intentionally collect, analyse and fully utilise data.
According to Simone Tilley, chair of the governance, data and reporting stream at the Combined Industry Forum (CIF), digital disruption is sure to become a defining trend in the industry moving forward.
While generating the processes to take more strategic advantage of data and analytics will only become more relevant and pressing with the passing of time, Tilley has yet to come across aggregators or broker groups who seem to have considered their full application.
“This is an area that has essentially been untapped,” says Tilley. “I have not heard of any major player hiring data scientists to consider how their data repositories can be mined to create improved value.”
“Whoever is first to market in driving a wave of change with respect to [data] will unquestionably command first-mover advantage.”
Further, the embrace of data as a tool for delivering better outcomes will complement the companion trend developing within the industry: a move towards codified unification and professionalisation.
Tilley explains, “One of the things we’re trying to do as an industry at the moment is create frameworks for better consistency so that we begin to exchange information more regularly and fluidly with one another so we can swarm on trends.”
Tilley, who is also the GM of retail broker distribution at ANZ, spoke of how the bank’s recent efforts to “completely review” and upgrade the infrastructure underpinning its broker channel and subsequent data analysis have begun opening these opportunities for intra-industry collaboration.
“We recognise we need to have a platform that is nimble and one that can accommodate change. We’ve invested time to ensure our master data management is accurate. We want to produce market-leading data analytics,” Tilley says.
“We’ll be initially sharing that with aggregators and [will] certainly look to open that up to brokers once reporting reaches a level of maturity.”
The distribution of data has helped shape the education initiatives that ANZ is providing to its brokers, using both the “top-down and bottom-up approach”, says Tilley.
The analysis can be utilised at the “top” aggregator level but equally informs how ANZ shares information with its BDMs and, subsequently, how the data is disseminated to brokers.
Additionally, the network of shared analysis enables ANZ to monitor relevant trends and areas of concern – data that it uses to generate content for its newly launched fortnightly webinar series for brokers.
“We’re using the insights to identify some of the issues we need to work through pragmatically together [with the aggregators] so we’re not taking a scattergun approach to education. It’s actually considered,” says Tilley.
As open banking continues to unfurl within Australia, with its rules and applications solidifying and more institutions taking part, it is impossible to deny that the industry must embrace data and work together to put it to its best use.
Tilley says, “As an industry, I expect to see our journey with professionalisation being amplified and being driven across all facets of the industry. I think we all agree this is important and something that makes sense.”
