3 minutes
For credit union CFOs, wearing multiple hats is an essential part of the job. Regardless of the task at hand—be it evaluating the institution’s overall profitability or managing compliance activities—the need for strong data persists. Today’s sophisticated business intelligence tools are changing the game for CFOs, providing accessibility to insights and empowering them to truly harness data to create sustainability and profitability using fact-informed strategies. With the right solutions, CFOs can base decisions on actual metrics rather than trends or industry benchmarks.
When it comes to vetting and deploying a business intelligence solution, CFOs are typically the ones in the driver’s seat. In choosing business intelligence tools, CFOs should look for systems that enable them to evaluate the past, understand the current status and drive changes with confidence, accounting for four unique types of analytics:
- Descriptive analytics—historic information depicting “what happened?”
- Diagnostic analytics—demonstration of cause and effect to assess “why did it happen?”
- Predictive analytics—monitoring and tracking trends and behavior to predict “what will happen?”
- Prescriptive analytics—allowing an organization to turn insights into strategy and tactical planning to supply answers to the question “how can we make it happen?”
Business intelligence is about leveraging data first to see the bigger picture and then to develop a comprehensive roadmap for staying ahead of the game in today’s fast-changing, technology-driven world. Business intelligence solutions must deliver insights to improve competitive posture, with an impact on virtually every department. In their assessment of data analytics solutions, today’s tech-savvy CFOs are prioritizing such key features as:
- Database integration: Does the system combine disparate databases into a single database, eliminating siloed views to present a comprehensive picture of the institution? Business intelligence solutions that consolidate repositories enable data to become information, information to become actionable insights and insights to become strategy.
- General ledger integration: Does the solution integrate data from a credit union’s core with its general ledger and other systems of record? This is vital for CFOs to obtain the complete view they need into such factors as net interest income, non-interest expense, return on capital, risk-adjusted return to economic capital, fund transfer pricing, cash flow and account-level income statements. These variables provide CFOs the resources to satisfy many critical management needs as well as stress testing requirements.
- Agility: Can the tool accommodate adjustments to demographics and other third-party data to help credit unions spot opportunities? A single business intelligence solution should be agile and robust enough to guide everything from branch structure to benefit compensation to key performance indicators per region, branch or even employee.
- Visualization of data: Does the system allow CFOs and other executives to review the data they need, when they need it? The ability to create graphs, dashboards and instant reports whether they are using a desktop, tablet, or smart phone simplifies the responsibility of identifying opportunities and risks as well as compiling regular reports for the management and board.
- Marketing communication: In addition to delivering financial analytics, does the system facilitate closed-loop marketing communication? With more channels than ever before to reach members, data—not guesswork—should indicate who to reach and when, what message to share, and what channel will resonate. A business intelligence tool should facilitate collaboration of the CFO and marketing team to emphasize targeted marketing and cross-sell strategies.
CFOs must be able to look at their institutions with a wide lens while simultaneously pinpointing specific areas of risk or improvement. Additionally, data analytics should not just relay information, but serve as a tool to proactively and continuously monitor a credit union’s entire set of portfolios. Above all, credit union CFOs should look for a business intelligence partner that can provide guidance well past implementation of a technology.
Naseer Nasim is CEO of Baker Hill, Carmel, Ind.
