Connected Analytics made its first appearance at the Australian Consumer Finance Forum with a presentation from Mike: “Data, Analytics And Modelling To Drive Insight Across Your Loan Portfolio.”

The full program can be accessed here:

http://rfievents.com.au/ACFC/ACFF%202015%20-%20Agenda%2029.7.15.pdf

On Friday the 13^th (of June), Rich and Dirk were invited to give a presentation on Big Data – Next Big Thing or Big Distraction” at the Melbourne Risk Analytics Group (MRAG) quarterly forum. The event got off to a shaky start, with only 1 person not connected directly with Connected Analytics or the MRAG management team, but eventually about 50 attendees were present for the talk.

Big Data is certainly the hot topic of analytics at the moment, which led use to talk through what Big Data is, and what are the potential applications for Credit Risk Analysis. Rich then spent some time looking at typical analytical ecosystems, what makes them work, and also what the Choke Points are in their evolution to sustainable and dependable data platforms.

One key question raised was that given that we struggle so much managing Small Data, how can we be sure that we successfully use Big Data? One thing is for sure -, data is at the core of the work that we do so ensuring that it is well managed and after that, well used is something that we all need to make sure is at the top of our priority list.

The presentation is available for viewing.

There are always changes to the regulatory or competitive landscape that create opportunity for those of us lucky enough to work in analytics.  On these pages, we highlight and provide links to pages we feel may be of interest to practitioners and decision makers across the analytics industry.

(i) Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

The Privacy Amendment Act 2012 was introduced to Parliament on 23^rd May 2012 and was passed with amendments on 29^th November 2012.  The Privacy Amendment Act includes a set of new, harmonised, privacy principles that will regulate the handling of personal information by both Australian government agencies and businesses.

This is important for the analytics industry for many reasons and a key reason is that it introduces Comprehensive Credit Reporting through changes to credit reporting laws.

http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-act/privacy-law-reform

(ii) Australasian Retail Credit Association (ARCA)

Formalised in 2006, ARCA is the industry association that has championed for change to credit reporting laws to benefit the industry, ensuring consumers have equitable and fair access to credit.

There are many great articles on credit and decision analytics, from an industry perspective, and several consultation papers highlighting the engagement with privacy law reform.

It is definitely worth subscribing to and reading “The Credit Report” from ARCA.

http://www.arca.asn.au/contact.html

(iii) Basel Committee on Banking Supervision

Most people who have worked with analytics in the past decade have been touched in some way by Basel, either by building models or managing ratings tools to Advanced Internal Based Approaches.  With capital efficiency a prioritise for most, if not all, banking organisations domestically and internationally, skills in these areas are always in demand.

http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbsca.htm

(iv) Analytic Maturity

Connected Analytics believes that most organisations have room to improve their analytic capabilities.  This can be described as an organisation’s analytic maturity.  There are many different approaches and methodologies in the market to improve analytic maturity. We are interested in how efficiently analytic resources are enhancing business decisions.

Some of the links below may have insight that helps you reflect on your organisation’s analytic maturity.  The models are understandably broad but may trigger thinking about what first steps you could take, such as a specific review of analytic capabilities against organisational strategy and the wider analytic environment.

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/au/analytics/aq/index.html?mc=web_aq_microsite_au

http://www.pwc.com.au/consulting/analytics/index.htm

http://www.accenture.com/us-en/pages/insight-test-analytics-maturity.aspx

(v) The Productivity Challenge

Taking large volumes of data, playing around with it for a few days / hours / weeks and in the process writing large volumes of un-maintainable code to finally produce some insight.  Is this analytics?  Moreover, is it the most efficient way to do analytics and create business value? Is it helping us, as an industry, support the wider productivity agenda?  Yet, how many teams across the region work in this way.

According to The EY Australian Productivity Pulse, the productivity challenge lies in the hands of the employer.

http://www.ey.com/AU/en/Services/Advisory/Productivity-Pulse_May_2012_What-makes-Australians-productive

There is also some interesting research available from the Productivity Commission.

http://www.pc.gov.au/

Thanks go to http://www.ahimsa-creative.com for his help and hard work in getting the new site up and running!

With the new site up and running, content will be our next focus.  Over the next few weeks and months we’ll putting together a “Knowledge Series” designed to raise the bar when it comes to the theory and practice of an efficient and effective analytic environment

In support of our goal to build greater brand awareness, Connected Analytics were a visible presence at the 2nd ARCA Conference in Blue Mountains, Sydney in late November. Not only did we sponsor the coffee cart, which with free caffeine was a big hit, but Mike and Rich teamed up for an insightful and topical presentation: “What happens When Analytics Meets Productivity and What You Need to Do to Keep Your Job On-Shore”. While much of the conference had focused on hard skills and external factors, Mike and Rich had a topic which appealed to many people because of its focus on behaviours.

It was also an excellent chance for our team to stay across key issues affecting the industry as well as listen to new ways to tackle these issues.

The full program can be accessed here:

http://www.arcaconference.com.au/ARCAC/ARCA%20conference%20program%20as%20at%20131113.pdf

and there’s bound to be something of interest for everyone!

Make Connections.  Share Ideas.  Be Inspired.

Mike will be sharing some of his experiences at this year’s SAS forum with a presentation and Q&A in the Financial Services and Insurance stream on “The journey to becoming an analytical organisation – developing the building blocks for enterprise capabilities”.

http://sasforum.com.au/