Russell Reynolds Associates: Recruiting a Strong Data Analytics Team In Financial Services

Information Management published a bylined article written by Russell Reynolds Associates' Justin Cerilli and Pam Attinger titled, "Recruiting a Strong Data Analytics Team In Financial Services." The piece looks at the current recruitment strategy of financial services firms in building strong data analytics teams. The article is excerpted below.

Consumer behavior is changing, challenging traditional business models of every type. Like many companies, financial services firms require ever-more advanced insights to understand – and capitalize on – these changes. As a result, they are increasingly turning to “big data” and data analytics to generate clear and comprehensive insights on their customers and markets.

These financial institutions are also finding that an effective data strategy can significantly help, not only in understanding customer behavior, but also in growing the business, increasing overall cost efficiency, improving capital allocation and protecting the firm from risk. They are finding, as well, that data analytics can improve employee results and even shape a company’s growth. Recruiting the right players in the data field has therefore become critical for today’s financial services companies.

On the offensive side of data, astute data-analytics teams are essential to driving growth and enhancing competitive market factors – from customer retention and the customer experience to branding and product development. In addition, although financial firms have primarily focused on the customer side to date, savvy analytics professionals are increasingly able to improve employee productivity and capabilities across the business.

On the defensive side, an effective data-analytics strategy is essential for protecting both customer and enterprise data, a strategy made even more compelling by the rash of recent, highly publicized security breaches. Financial institutions use analytics to protect the business and partner effectively with regulators and in particular to improve risk management, compliance and information security.

To improve results on both offense and defense, financial services firms must also invest in enhanced data quality and data management initiatives across the enterprise – an enormous effort, given legacy systems and the typically poor integration of these systems across the business. Additionally, active collaboration between strong data and analytics teams and their cyber security peers is needed to prevent further internal or external breaches.

Despite increasing data and analytics requirements, the existing pool of data and analytics executives is small, particularly when looking at candidates within financial services. One reason is that the heavily regulated nature of the industry mandates that personnel come from either financial services or healthcare so they truly understand the demands of the business.