Trustworthy Data Correlates to Sharper Insights from Analytics, Better Member Service and Lower Cost Structures in All Business Conditions
By Merrill Albert, Data Services Delivery Director
Apart from a credit union’s members, the member data it stores in multiple systems and databases represent its next most valuable asset. But some credit unions may struggle to successfully find, manage and leverage the value of the vast amount of data they store. Organizations face impacts today that were not imagined in prior strategic planning cycles. Credit unions now see great value in raising the priority of proper data management in their business strategies.
Your data must be trustworthy. This is important in normal times, but even more so in periods of unusually high stress. Credit unions have turned to data as the resource for mobilizing their efforts to ease members’ anxieties.
Four Steps to Data Management Maturity
A formalized data management practice helps credit unions apply a higher level of discipline to the business of keeping their data in good order. Credit unions can benefit from a consultation with a data management specialist who can apply a proven four-step process to assess a credit union’s data management maturity level:
- Diagnose the current status of your data management.
- Define the desired end state.
- Identify gaps in leading industry practices and opportunities for improvement.
- Create a high-level roadmap to reach the end state.
Without a holistic data management practice, our credit union clients report several consequences to their operational and service capabilities:
- Operational inefficiency due to fragmented data across multiple sources
- Inconsistent reporting
- Limited analytics capabilities
Seven Disciplines that Comprise a Mature Data Management Practice
Now is a great time to focus on the next event that requires a data-driven response or implementation. Trellance coaches credit unions on seven widely accepted data management disciplines to achieve excellence in their data management practices, as shown in the graphic below.
Small Investment Leads to Good Data Habits and Delivers Big Benefits
- Improved member experience – Without experiencing data issues, members can have a stress-free relationship with the credit union.
- Revenue growth – With improved confidence in the credit union, members are more willing to do additional business with the credit union.
- Lower cost structures – A better understanding relating to member data and how it operates can help credit unions realize efficiencies in the costs associated with storage, fragmentation, and manual effort.
- Better ability to meet regulatory and compliance mandates – When regulatory questions come up, credit unions will have access to the data that answers those questions.
- Improved member credit risk evaluation – To accurately assess risk, credit unions need data they can trust.
Most credit unions provision their strategic plans to accommodate sudden and unexpected natural and man-made events that disrupt normal business operations. When these events occur, your data represents a critical lifeline to reach members with information they need and want to know. Does your data reflect the correct email and home addresses? Do you have the right phone numbers for members? Is this data the same across multiple data sources? A vigilant and focused data management practice helps credit unions reconcile anomalies that occur when your members’ data is stored incorrectly.
Any initiative that reconciles your data is well worth the investment to manage through normal daily operations as well as difficult and challenging times. Now is the time to integrate a world-class data management practice as a fundamental part of your strategic plan.
When you manage your data according to leading practices, your data will treat you right.
Trellance analytics solutions help credit unions of all sizes use their data to support rapid decision making in a time of crisis for their members. Learn more by downloading the Trellance Product Portfolio pdf.
