SigmaWay Blog

Analytics has eventually gained importance in the banking sector. From cost optimization, risk balancing to revenue growth, analytics does it all. Operational analytics: reporting, basic forecasting with data and Advanced analytics: model driven, focusing on the predictive aspects- these are used by the banking sector. Slowly customer analytics and risk analytics are also coming into the picture. These help in revenue growth, investment banking, improving customer experience and save the bank from the uncertainties of the market. Analytics is giving the banking sector well defined strategies, changing paradigms with the advancement of technology. With this evolution of analytics, the need for professionals who can bridge the gap between IT and businesses is immediate. Banks are already employing personnel to read into the data offering growth, efficiency and risk management. Read more at:http://www.businessworld.in/news/economy/analytics-&-banking/1719002/page-1.html

Microsoft recently announced upgraded model of SQL server, which includes reporting services, analysis services and Integration Services to help companies in critical decision making. SQL server 2016 includes non-clustered columnstore index support with columnar index in-memory or on-disk row store for deploying an operational analytics and it has polybase. SQL server 2016 made several improvements in analytical services such as enterprise readiness, modelling platform, BI tools, SharePoint integration, and hybrid BI. An SQL server 2016 analysis service also provides functional parity with SharePoint vNext and Excel vNext. To know more about SQL server 2016 features, please follow this link: http://sqlmag.com/blog/what-coming-sql-server-2016-business-intelligence

A famous marketing automation provider claims that the new analytics abilities of the company are helping consumers in retrieving marketing data and transferring it for 'deeper analytics' to business intelligence (BI) systems. The features include accessibility of configured datasets and integrations. Traditional marketing automation systems didn't give marketers enough flexibility and accessibility to their specific, desired data, also requiring them to use a specific BI platform only. Present automation systems not only give access to the specific, required data but it can also be analyzed using any tool ranging from excel to different other BI tools. Read more at:

http://www.cmswire.com/marketing-automation/act-on-debuts-data-studio-capabilities/

In this competitive world, relying on one or two marketing channel is not a right decision. If you want to have a competitive advantage, use omni-channel marketing. Omni-channel marketing is about teamwork and using various marketing channels towards a single goal and delivering customer satisfaction. Key to omni-channel marketing success is analytics. Analytics and predictive modelling helps in gathering data, segmentation and provide relevant information. Companies can use internal data assets with external market intelligence to drive a decision. Tying customer's digital information with strong database helps in delivering personalized messages to customers.  Analytics provides metrics which helps in comparing channel performance. Helps in combining 1st party and 3rd party data. Read more at: http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/19/129314.html

In the time of rising data hacks in major companies, attacks on individuals are also on the rise. According to FICO, compared to first quarter of last year, credit card breaches have risen by 174% on ATMs located on bank properties and 317% on non-bank ATMs. 'Wall Street Journal' predicts that criminals will make more than 1.5 million successful cash withdrawals this year and thus making money withdrawal from ATMs more dangerous than ever. As a result major American corporations, banking institutions and payment connect companies like Visa and MasterCard have all considerably stepped up their efforts to innovate and strengthen their security in order to prevent further hacks and breaches. Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246466

Are you planning to invest your wealth and confused to choose which financial product? Did you get your basics right about available ones? What are the things to be taken care of while taking an investment decision? To answer any question of this sort, all you need to do is compare risks, liquidity and earning potential of available products and chose the one that is close to your preference. Risk preference of each investor differs; young investors are more likely to be less risk averse. Also any investor would like to have highest return for the same level of default risk. Money in the bank is very safe as is money invested in bonds which is not the case with money invested in mutual funds.  When it comes to earning potential a careful study of all available options and all possible states of returns is needed. Read more about Investment advices at: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/8394657-74/fund-interest-bonds#axzz3b1MLlddk

According to Warren Buffett, "Emotions are contagious, and emotions have no business in investing". But it is not possible for a normal human mind to yield to emotions while making investments. Thus, Behavioral Finance, a field of Psychology as applied to Economics and Finance, can give us interesting insights, and psychological biases that we are all prone to while making investments.  A list of six things according to Greg B. Davies, Head of Behavioral and Quantitative Investment Philosophy, that we can focus on while making investments are:

1. Failing to see the big picture

2. Using a short term decision horizon

3. Buying high, selling low

4. Getting emotionally attached to concentrated investments

5. Action Bias – trading too frequently

6. Mental accounting – failing to deploy your finances where they are most effective.

To explore more into becoming a successful investor visit: https://barclayswealthblog.com/index.php/six-things-we-get-wrong-with-investment-decisions/

To more than a billion cricket frenzy people in the country and outside, how can cricket be made more interesting? Is there a way organizers of the game can make fans grip to it with increasing fervor? Apparently these are the key points ICC tried to focus on in this world cup. Predictive analytics is what ICC banked on to increase fan engagement. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 was considered as the most digitally advanced in history. ICC, with support from SAP, came up with the much insightful Match Center through which statistics, comparison techniques which earlier used to be available, albeit not very advanced, to coaches of teams, and commentators were available to any owner of a smart phone with the touch of its app. ICC has increased its use of analytics lately, and will sure rely on it more than less in coming years.

To read more, follow:  http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/tech/when-cricket-married-predictive-analytics/58534/ 

Digital intervention is influencing all sorts of businesses now-a-days. It is important to stay updated, in order to survive the competition. A well-known sneaker company has entered the business of digital sports in order to survive the digital disruption, happening all around. Other companies include a famous coffee maker brand, who has embraced digital transformation by launching an online platform to capture consumers' ideas, experiences and preferences. Instead of focusing too much on cost reduction, it's time to focus on innovative technology, which is also risky. For digital upgradation, it is important to understand the online topography, to recover the required data, which is analyzed using data analytics, which then gives results, used for understanding customer sentiment. Read more at:

http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7232-are-you-becoming-a-digital-dinosaur

A famous chain that oversees the operation of 514 restaurants across the US, has found a way to integrate Big Data with Business Intelligence Services. The system works on data from point-of-sale, marketing, promotions and customer surveys to provide feedback on sales in real time. This not only helps them maintain a competitive edge, but also maximize profits. Big Data was used to select which item to put on the restaurant's menu too. After evaluation of sales, simplicity of preparation, profitability, quality and brand. Only once they met the required target, were they made permanent on the menu of that restaurant. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/06/02/big-data-at-dickeys-barbecue-pit-how-analytics-drives-restaurant-performance/

According to Scott Langfeldt (Teradata) “Big data is changing the way the world works- By combining with faster processor speeds and innovative analytic tools- helps in detecting fraud, part failure, and churn.”
For implementing big data and analytics into the company- analytical, business and IT departments need to work together. But they usually have differences.
Scott Langfeldt (Teradata) discussed some ways to solve these differences:
• Categorize your business and mission critical process.
• Make sure that flexibility is built into “business critical” process.
• Create a partnership between the IT developers and analytical teams.
• Develop “business solution” specialist on the analytic team.
• Develop “analytical experts.”
To know more about these ways, follow this link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/teradata/2015/06/02/avoiding-the-drift-into-analytics-oblivion-turning-your-business-into-an-analytics-driven-one/

According to the MillwardBrown's AdReaction 2014 report, “multiscreen consumers usually prefer micro-video, interactive TV ads, and TV ads promoting mobile apps, Facebook pages, and brand websites.”  Multiscreen marketing is a storytelling strategy that brands employ to reach audiences across multiple platforms. It should be a part of an overarching strategy. And you have to incorporate a creative mix of hashtags, follow-up social engagement and user content re-purposing across multiple screens. Some tips are:

•        Use cross-screen analytics to know where your audiences live and work.

•        Choose the most efficient media to achieve your reach and frequency objectives.

To know more tips and information about multiscreen strategy, follow this link: http://www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2015/27762/four-quick-tips-for-a-winning-multiscreen-strategy

With the advent of Big Data and technologies that can handle data in real time, Big Data is now reshaping the landscape of security with radical changes in the analytics methods being used. While most security specialists admit that perfect protection is not possible, using Big Data can help in increasing the prediction accuracy of attacks. Generating data for each user signature for example and storing them in NoSQL databases made them scalable. The motivation was to allow relocation of security information and improved monitoring for systems. As companies move from descriptive analytics to predictive analytics, the scope of Big Data in security greatly increases. Read at: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/big-data-analytics/how-big-data-is-changing-the-security-analytics-landscape/

To make the contact center more efficient one should have the right equipment for their business. This is one of the ways to keep the cost down. One such equipment is the agent headset which provides the staff with quality communication at an affordable price. Apart from the quality what matters is how the calls are managed and monitored. Once you have an adequate record of every call that is made to your network, it is much easier to measure and manage the performance of employees in terms of how they interact with customers and clients. ?Read more here: 

 http://www.callcentertimes.com/Articles/tabid/59/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/407/CategoryID/1/NewsID/992/Default.aspx

According to Kevin Mahaffey (CTO at a security firm Lookout) "The more ways we make data more convenient, the more risk there is to access the data and access things without your knowledge". Such is the case with Apple watch. It expands the data set freely over the internet. Not only your location can easily be traced, your heart rate and activities can also be monitored by which your mood and choice can easily be deduced. To know more about the new technology, follow: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/mobile-enterprise/is-the-apple-watch-a-security-threat-029105.php

Banks are shifting their target from mobile banking to security scrutiny. What makes it more challenging is a far less prevalence of anti-malware software on mobile devices. Mobile banking allows customers to monitor fraud in real time together with their banking institutions. And many of our smartphones are more secure than our desktop or laptop computers with latest biometric and encryption technologies which provide two major benefits- Improved security and Improved self-help features so that customers don't have to call, email, or tweet their bank's customer care representatives. Read more at:

http://www.banktech.com/security/4-hot-mobile-banking-security-developments/d/d-id/1319161?image_number=1

Rolls Royce, a company that is a leader in the manufacture of engines that generate large amount of power in a high-tech industry has begun to look for Big Data solutions to increase profits and reliability. Its engines and machine parts are fit with scores of sensors that monitor their operation and detect change in real time. Royce now employs Big Data in design, manufacture and after-sales crunching of data. With over 3TB data generated per manufacturing component a year, there is no doubt that there is a need for integration of Big Data. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/06/01/how-big-data-drives-success-at-rolls-royce/

According to the NetProspex report based on the analysis of 223million records in the database of B2B companies, most of the their marketing and selling database lacks in providing key information about prospects and customers. According to the report, 84% of the records don’t have revenue information. 82% of the records were missing with employee information. 72% of the B2B companies didn’t include website domain. 54% of the records did not include a phone number of customers and many were inaccurate. To know more about NetProspex report, please follow this link: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27711/the-state-of-b2b-marketing-data

The increasing amount of data available to retailers, are giving them quite a sweat, when it comes to extracting the required data from such a large pool. Big data yet again proves to be the savior of the day. Big data helps in segregating consumers, and sending them promotional offers on the basis of their purchasing patterns and location, thus improving 'customer opinion' in the process. It has been observed that customers, now-a-days are increasingly doing online study about their desired product before making the final purchase from offline stores. Big data integrates this data along with the data of actual purchases, including the location of the purchase, to filter the segregation of customers and give them better service. Read more at:

http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/using-big-data-to-improve-consumer-sentiment

Customer analytics deals in the evaluation of consumer satisfaction, from the purchase of a product or service. The insights obtained from the data, assists in assessing a company's principle performance indicators, the sales division's performance and in making future sales forecasts. Customer loyalty aids in generating profits for the company. Customer relationship management (CRM) analytics, when applied efficiently, generates the best insights on customer satisfaction. CRM analytics analyses data, ranging from the profile of the consumer to customer feedback, to ensure the best possible results. Read more at:

http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/the-secret-to-measuring-customer-experience