Allocating Resources - no plagiarism at all

Incorporate Big Data Into Strategic Planning Boards should create a solid foundation for collaboration and provide oversight.

Big data initiatives have quickly become strategic priorities for many credit unions, w hich know they can improve m em ber service by better understand­ ing members' behaviors and untapped interests in certain products.

But directors at credit unions em barking on these initiatives should first ask these questions o f senior executives: ■ Who's in charge o f big data? ■ Where should big data reside? ■ Would a team approach— across m u ltiple de p a rt­ m ents— w ork best?

Your answers w ill be unique to your credit union's structure, size, and specific needs. But collaboration forms the core o f any successful big data enterprise, according to a new CUNA M arketing & Business D evelopm ent Council w hite paper.

That includes oversight from the board, sup­ p o rt and com m itm ent from senior executives, and cooperation and com m unication between inform a­ tio n technology and other departm ents w ith in your credit union.

To create a foundation for cohesion, make big data projects a part o f your strategic plans, urges Rich Jones, president/CEO o f Leading2Leadership LLC and a form er credit union m arketing and busi­ ness developm ent executive. To start, credit unions must define these three areas:

1. A business intelligence strategy, or how you'll collect, aggregate, and use data— strategically and operationally.

2. Budgeted investment in tools. Consider w hether you need a m arketing custom er inform a­ tio n file (MCIF) to segment household members, a custom er relationship m anagem ent (CRM) system, and a data warehouse to aggregate data from third parties about members'behaviors.

3. Resources. Do you need to hire a "data scientist"— a person trained to sim plify com plex data for management?

If your credit union is hiring a "big data scientist" to lead your initiatives, consider these competencies and responsibilities. Your leader w ill need to: ■ Exert influence and a u th o rity to inspire action; ■ Develop and measure the business plan; ■ Build a new infrastructure w orking w ith internal and external players; ■ Secure and manage staff w ith integral expertise; ■ Break down departm ental barriers by encouraging alignm ent; and ■ Ensure accountability and engagem ent fo r sus­

tained ground level change. Finding the leader fo r your big data projects

could be a challenge. Businesses face a data analyt­ ics tale n t shortage, notes the w hite paper, citing D eloitte D evelopm ent LLC's Analytics Trends 2014 report. Professionals w ho can deliver data-backed insights th a t create business value— not ju st num ­ ber-crunchers— are especially hard to find.

"One solution to the talent gap is to create teams o f diverse skills to deliver a balanced response to busi­ ness analytics questions— creating high-perform ing teams that can deliver business value,"the report says.

Credit unions can employ other methods to make up for staff and knowledge shortages in the big data arena, says Cathy Graham, vice president o f market­ ing for $3.9 billion asset Desert Schools Federal Credit Union in Phoenix. These methods include partner­ ing w ith other credit unions, participating in big data forums and conference sessions, subscribing to insightful publications, and accessing peer insights.

A competitive advantage Big data eventually w ill revolutionize the business landscape— b u t has yet to change the way com pa­ nies operate at a fundam ental level, according to a 2014 Accenture poll o f executives.

Nearly 90% o f surveyed executives believe big data could rival the Internet as a force th a t sig­ nificantly impacts business practices, and about 80% believe big data provides a com petitive advantage. But ju s t 5% o f executives say big data's prim ary effect is changing the way they do business.

■ For CUNA's fu ll suite

o f E-Scan services, visit

cuna.org/strategicplanning.

■ For more about CUNA

Marketing & Business

Development Council

w hite papers, visit

cunamarketingcouncii.org.

Attitudes on the Significance of Big Data (among executives w orldw ide)

Big data w ill revolutionize the way we do business to a degree similiar to th e advent of the Internet in th e 1990s.

51% 38 10 1%

Big data w ill dramatically change the way w e do business in the future. 39% 46 13 2%

Companies that don't embrace big data w ill lose their competitive position and may even face extinction.

37% 42 19

We feel we're ahead of our peers in using big data and this creates a competitive advantage for us.

2%

37%

Strongly agree

46 12 14% I Agree Neither agree or disagree H I Disagree

Note: numbers m ig h t n o t add up to 100% due to rounding. Source: Accenture's "Big Success With Big Data", September 2014

FEBRUARY 2015 | CREDIT UNION DIRECTORS NEWSLETTER | 3

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