Three mega-trends shaping the data economy

Data Economy - A European Perspective

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Vilmos Lorincz, Managing Director of Data and Digital Products for Lloyds Banking Group in the United Kingdom. Data is a fundamental currency in financial services, and so developing new approaches for banking protocols is critical to formulating progressive solutions for both clients and industry colleagues.

In response to a demand by the U.K. government for more transparency in financial services, the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) was set up in 2017 to deliver architectures that give customers more control of their data within a secure framework.

Lloyds Bank undertook a decisive transformation by moving their big data to the cloud and advancing data literacy for its employees, upgrading their capacity to provide benefit to clients. “We had to design the new agile operating model for more than a thousand colleagues,” said Vilmos, “helping them land in their newly defined roles, making the right technology investment choices, while engaging with more than 20,000 people.”

Vilmos emphasized that ethical behavior is absolutely critical to gaining and maintaining client trust, establishing a company’s brand as honest and responsible partners.

When asked about mega trends that are shaping the data-driven economy, Vilmos suggested three fundamentals.

1. Customer awareness: As citizens become more digitally sophisticated, they are keenly attuned to privacy and security issues. They rightfully want control of their data, expanding their ability to explore and select personal options.

2. Maturing corporations: The corporate world is advancing its ability to adopt new processes that keep pace with emergent technologies to add value to their business models and to benefit their customers.

3. Regulatory bodies: Regulators and governments are playing active roles in adjusting to new market realities, both protecting individual rights and positioning their nation to take full advantage of the opportunities of the rising data economy.

“Organizations are realizing that data is a mission-critical competitive factor and a must-have to meet and exceed customer expectations,” Vilmos explained. “They are becoming much better at deploying machine-learning and artificial-intelligence capabilities as an increasing part of their data estate.”

Vilmos advises business executives to prepare for a fast-evolving future by establishing frameworks that can accommodate the growth of the data economy and by planning how to deliver their products within the data-driven landscape.

Source: ibm.com