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FNB's head of analytics: Data-driven decision-making leads to more profitability

Kirsten Doyle
By Kirsten Doyle, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 30 Nov 2018
Yudhvir Seetharam, head of Analytics, Insights and Research at FNB SA.
Yudhvir Seetharam, head of Analytics, Insights and Research at FNB SA.

The volume of data that organisations across the public and private sectors acquire each day is growing exponentially.

At the same time, the way in which businesses operate is changing significantly. Increased digitisation and the Internet of Things are driving an unprecedented growth in the quantity and variety of data generated around the world.

`Big data' is the name given to describe this enormous volume of data processing and storage, and savvy enterprises that want to extract actionable insights from that big data to keep them ahead of the curve and profitable are turning to data analytics.

Actionable insights

Over the past five years, data analytics has moved from being reactive to being proactive, says Yudhvir Seetharam, head of Analytics, Insights and Research at FNB Business. "It's no longer about doing `data' work for the sake of building a good model, but to actually focus on actionable insights."

Seetharam, who has a PhD in behavioural finance and lectures at Wits University, is drawing on his academic background as head of analytics at FNB Business. He heads up a team of analysts who examine customer-driven analytics and compile reports that help benchmark the bank's performance against those of other banks.

He will be presenting on 'The progression of analytics: moving beyond reporting to delivering key business insights', at the ITWeb Business Intelligence & Analytics Summit 2019, to be held from 12 to 14 March at The Forum in Bryanston.

Speaking of how analytics can benefit the business, Seetharam says it helps each department or area of a business optimise and disrupt operations, ultimately leading to increased profitability.

"There are some applications of analytics that assist with revenue growth, while others assist with cost cutting."

However, he says analytics does not solve every problem. "Data-driven decision-making only makes sense once you have a holistic answer to the problem. Analytics needs to be done on both qualitative and quantitative data."

Delegates attending his talk will learn about the current and future landscape of analytics, and will receive a framework for employing analytics across the functional areas of their businesses.

ITWeb Business Intelligence & Analytics Summit 2019

ITWeb's next annual BI & Analytics Summit will be held from 12 to 14 March 2019, at The Forum, Bryanston. This year's event is themed 'Being intelligent about business data' and will focus on the practical application of BI and analytics into the business. Click here to learn about real-world BI and analytics implementations and how to take your BI and analytics projects to the next level.

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