Data In Financial Services
Data is at the heart of solving many of the sector’s challenges
Financial services firms are facing unprecedented uncertainty and risk from rapid geopolitical, technological, social and economic shifts.
A weaker economy and higher interest rates are creating customer demand for higher-performing products and services. At the same time, firms must address rapidly increasing regulatory and reporting requirements – particularly around financial stability, money laundering, cybersecurity and consumer data rights.
Where older firms may be hamstrung by legacy, nimble new entrants see an opportunity. For both, data is at the heart of the solution.
Becoming a Modern Pensions Firm
Key Issues
One of the largest and most established pension providers in the UK was facing a new, data driven threat to its organisation and business operating model. While it had been hugely successful in establishing market dominance and driving innovation, it had also accumulated outdated core systems and much technical debt.
Start ups in the pensions market that were born in the cloud and took a “data-first approach” were now not only nipping at their heels but actively winning business from them and other incumbents by being able to access, process and analyse customer data quicker.
The challenge now was: how do you take an organisation with decades of historic data, entrenched ageing systems and turn it around to again use technology and innovation to be at the forefront of the industry.
Solution
We assessed the existing technology stack, available talent and skills and based on the nature of the problem designed a new way of calculating pension risk using modern, cloud based Microsoft tools such as Azure power Apps, logic and function apps.
We worked with internal teams to build a completely new architecture using these modern tools to allow citizen developers within the organisation to spin up all the required architectural resources to calculate risks and dependencies at the click of a button.
We embedded robust data engineering practices and adjusted governance processes to suit modern data tools, identifying how legacy and new systems can co-exist as part of a tactical approach, whilst identifying roles and responsibilities in the new landscape.
Outcome
The organisation is now able to compete in a cloud and data first business environment whilst also being able to leverage their years of experience and extensive customer data. This is leading to a huge reduction of technical and business risk as well as the safeguarding and improvement of revenues.
The Pivotl team has experience of helping Financial Services firms turn data and cloud technologies into their most powerful advantage. Get in touch to find out how we can help your firm stay ahead of the competition.
