Banking

Last week, we reported some eye-opening cybersecurity statistics discussed at the Tennessee Bankers Association’s Credit Conference. While the focus of these conversations centered on the credit process, managing breaches has become one of the most significant focus areas for businesses of all kinds. 

Not long ago, Big Data was little more than a term bandied around by the technology, sales, and marketing communities. Today, this body of intelligence is used across virtually every sector, like banking, that integrates online and offline customer channels.

With continued exponential increases in data collection (50 times year over year), big data has become an accepted – and expected – part of a cohesive operational strategy. But it’s not without challenges. 

On the front page of American Banker, there’s a July 14 article titled “Is It Almost Time to Put Core Processing in the Cloud?” If there was any doubt about the fact that technology is a one-directional, hard trend banks absolutely must be integrating into strategy, articles like this are putting it to rest. 

Recently, I had the privilege of discussing The Big Deal About Big Data at the 2014 Louisiana Bankers Association Technology Conference. While the topic of Big Data historically has been discussed primarily in the halls of the marketing department, more and more, it is becoming a strategic focus across the organization. The reasons for that are many, but as always, the numbers tell the most convincing story.

Data is more prevalent than ever, but according to a report from EMC and Forrester Research organizations are just starting to scratch the surface with only utilizing less than 5% of their available information. The biggest barrier holding organizations back is cost of implementation.

Make no mistake; Big Data is the business/technology/marketing buzzword of recent years. Ironic, because there’s so much debate about what that term means and even more discussion about what you can do with it.

In light of the recent data breach at Target, IT risk buzz words are swirling the banking industry, and rightly so. The cost of a security breach can cripple any business and, certainly, a financial institution.