Financial institutions can make better use of data to identify and solve internal challenges.
“There’s data that is trapped inside your organizations that’s dying to be liberated and made actionable,” Paul Hockel, technology vice president at General Dynamics Information Technology, said at the AFSA Vehicle Finance Conference in Dallas.
Companies should identify two or three organizational issues and track data to identify where to make corrections, Hockel said, noting that during his time in the U.S. Air Force, data was often used to identify security breaches.
“You don’t have to be complicated right from the beginning, you just have to figure out what your needs are,” he said. “If you fix those things, you’re going to be better. As an organization, you’re going to improve, you’re going to become more efficient and more profitable. Focus on those few things that are killing you and go from there.”
Data is only as valuable as the company makes it, Hockel said, so it’s critical to ensure data gets to the right people who will act on it.
“We had to understand that our information was only as valuable as it was to help operations do their mission,” he said. “We began a cultural shift over the years to try and open up that culture of sharing information and make it actionable to be able to support operations.”
As data collection improves, companies should start to increase the amount of data they are monitoring to expand sources and make informed decisions when solving issues within the organization, Hockel said.
— Additional reporting done by Joey Pizzolato
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