By Mike Mohr
In Part 1 of this article, I discussed why credit unions should employ data analytics as part of their decision-making processes. In this concluding article, I discuss specific ways using business intelligence and data analysis can reduce costs and increase revenue for credit unions of all sizes.
Marketing development and implementation is an obvious space for applying data analytics. Mass mailed, one-size fits all efforts are ancient history. Analytics can identify which members should be targeted, in what medium they should be reached, and what products and services should be offered. You will know with certainty which of your efforts were cost-effective and why by examining in detail the relationship between resources spent in a campaign and the resulting revenue.
Analytics can help improve member relations, too. Using analytics to develop products to offer to targeted segments of your membership based on the likelihood of their interest will increase revenue and reduce the resources that would otherwise be spent offering products and services of less interest to those members. Tailoring your products and services to specific customer profiles allows every member of your credit union to have a personal relationship with you because you offer exactly what they want. Remember, they’re telling you what they want through transactional data. Listen to them!
It's Not Just About Member Data
Thinking of opening a new branch location? Analytics can give you a choice of sound options, based on proximity to where your members live, work or play. Analytics can tell you how far members need to travel to reach a branch, how often they make that trip and which members would be better-served with a closer branch.
Using data analytics is not restricted to member data. Applying robust analysis to internal processes can also be useful in making management decisions. You can improve every aspect of your human resources and operational activities by understanding the relationship between hiring practices, new employee training, continuing education processes, and employee performance and productivity. When you use data analytics in your human resources department, you know with a degree of certainty how you should recruit and which qualifications and characteristics you should be seeking because you investigate every aspect of your hiring practices and resources spent in transitioning recruits into trained, skillful workers.
Powerful Information To Bridge Gaps
Business intelligence is changing how people guide their credit unions. Integrating data analytics into the decision-making process is standard operating procedure for successful leaders today and will continue to be in the future. Every day, more and more companies realize that every business decision should be made with the clear understanding of the relationship between costs and benefits that data analytics can provide.
Data analytics in the hands of a trusted analysis partner can transform your data into powerful information that bridges the gap between your credit union and its successful future by enabling you to make effective decisions that minimize expenses, maximize revenue and set a higher bar for competition.
Mike Mohr is a business intelligence analyst with United Solutions Company, a Tallahassee, Fla.-based CUSO that provides a comprehensive menu of services to more than 85 credit unions, Credit Union Shared Service Centers, and the City of Tallahassee's Utilities Payment Centers. For info: www.unitedsolutions.coop.