More data: Banks have started analyzing customer behavior for businesses

Banks have begun to analyze the behavior of buyers for large businesses. For example, T-Bank has launched a service that allows you to study the activity of consumers of goods and services based on anonymized card transaction data. A similar service is provided by SberAnalytica. They develop solutions based on big data that help businesses and government agencies make decisions. Who else is entering the market with similar initiatives and how it helps companies — in the Izvestia article.

How the business intelligence market has changed

Banks have started offering businesses professional industry research and analytics on changes in customer behavior. So, upon request, companies can receive a detailed analysis of up-to-date data with conclusions and recommendations.

For example, T-Bank is entering the business consulting market, the credit institution told Izvestia. Such solutions allow large and medium-sized businesses to gain more practical insights about potential customers and integrate them more quickly into their business development strategy, product plans, and marketing launches.

The trend has developed due to a number of factors — large banks have a lot of customers and data about them, credit institutions have computing and intellectual resources, Leonid Delitsyn, an analyst at Finam Financial Group, drew attention. Not all banks enter the analytics market, but only the largest ones.

— Businesses often lack a complete picture. There is a lot of data now: CRM (Customer Relationship Management — customer relationship management system), loyalty, cash transactions. But it's difficult to figure out who your client is, what influences them, where you're losing money, and how to move on. The T-Data analytical platform from T-Bank collects this holistic picture based on the real behavior of millions of people — their purchases, routes, habits — in the form of impersonal data. And this can help companies make more accurate and bold decisions," said Maxim Savchenko, head of the T—Data analytical project.

According to him, analytical consulting allows you to see your client: where he lives, what he buys and how his behavior is changing. For example, the T-Data analytics service has already been used by the Dixy store chain.

To improve operational efficiency, speed of delivery and expand the local assortment for customers, the company's management has launched a new delivery model — from darkstores, said Sergey Koloshko, director of e-commerce at the Dixy chain of stores. Based on the information received from analysts, the company was able to determine the optimal locations for darkstores and get a clear idea of the range that is in demand in a particular location, he explained.

Which banks are willing to investigate consumer behavior for business

Other banks are also interested in entering the business intelligence market. As explained to Izvestia in the press service of Sberbank, enterprises need tools that record changes in demand, price elasticity and key company indicators in real time. Big data analytics is moving from the category of optional to the status of an operational standard.

— In particular, since 2018, the SberAnalytica platform has been developing analytical solutions for businesses and government agencies. Research and models are based on anonymized and aggregated data from 111 million individuals and 6 million legal entities, which allows us to obtain the most representative and accurate market insights, the bank explained.

There are other players in the market. For example, credit institutions such as Alfa-Bank and VTB are also showing interest in the direction. The editorial board sent a request to other major banks, whether they are doing analytics.

PSB offers an analytics service for entrepreneurs who work on marketplaces, free of charge when opening a checking account, the bank's press service reported. With the help of external analytics, you can find promising niches, monitor changes in the product profiles of other sellers, compare products by prices and characteristics, and track competitors' revenue, orders, and sales.

In addition, research is conducted by Nielsen (NIQ), GfK, Ipsos, INFOLine and Data Insight, which have a strong methodological base and a stable reputation. Nevertheless, the volume of their samples is significantly smaller, which limits the depth and scale of analytics compared to solutions based on big data. At the same time, telecom operators, large IT companies, as well as small regional players are working with analytical research.

Which industries will benefit from access to analytics

Banks have started using big data and analytics to improve internal business processes, says Evelina Gomonko, associate professor at the Faculty of Economics at RUDN University. As a result, it has become easier and faster for customers to open accounts, make savings, and conduct transactions. Big data gives credit institutions a serious competitive advantage — they make forecasts more accurately, offer personalized offers, monitor customer reactions and find out their hidden preferences, the expert added.

Big data is actively used in retail, transport and the communications industry, says Leonid Delitsyn from Finam. According to him, this happens wherever there is a mass consumer.

In addition, Evelina Gomonko continued, this format is used by those industries that are related to end-user services. We are talking about finance, retail, telecommunications, medical services, education, housing and communal services — that is, those areas of the economy where personalized interaction and prompt customer service are required, the specialist added.

Nevertheless, there are risks. In the case of banking research, there may be a conflict of interest: the credit institution itself works in the market and analyzes it, said Evelina Gomonko from RUDN University.

How does conducting business analytics by banks affect the economy

The development of proprietary technologies for data processing, artificial intelligence and machine learning contributes to the creation of unique solutions that can be used not only for commercial but also for government purposes, says Evelina Gomonko from RUDN University. The availability of such developments also reduces dependence on foreign providers and ensures data protection. Together, this enhances technological sovereignty and digital independence, the expert believes.

Spot studies by specialized agencies do not provide a complete and objective picture — they largely depend on the representativeness of the sample, the quality of the questions posed and the interpretation of the data by experts, said Meri Valishvili, Master of Law, Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

In addition to working with clients, big data technologies can improve the effectiveness of efforts to combat fraud with bank accounts. She added that big data provides the ability to process and analyze millions of transactions in real time, which makes it possible to quickly identify deviations from typical customer behavior and recognize suspicious behavior.