Data & Analytics

Growth-oriented business owners regularly review key metrics and performance indicators to gauge their company’s financial health. But in today’s data-rich environment, the real advantage comes when leaders and analysts are focused on the right metrics.

In late March, several Spinnaker team members participated in ABA Risk 2021, both as panelists and attendees. This premier risk conference from the American Bankers Association combines enterprise risk management, insurance risk management and risk quantification, while delivering expert takes on current and emerging threats along with best practices.

Cutting-edge technology, coupled with the disruption of COVID-19, has driven significant change in the banking industry this past year. Consumers are now more apt to choose online banking services – a trend that’s been bolstered by the continued ingenuity of the fintech segment. And while customers are keeping banks on their toes with continued demand for new tech, we expect that demand to be accompanied by new policy and regulatory pressure in the next five years.

The Big Picture We remember spending hours (if not days) each month in mind-numbing tedium as junior analysts, producing regular reporting for our business lines. The recurring exercise had us piecing together data from various sources, manually updating Excel files and praying fervently that none of the associated formulas got corrupted along the way. Excel would generate new graphs, which we transferred over to PowerPoint, and, more often than not, further manipulation would be required to fit them into the approved templates to avoid formatting glitches. Copy-Paste was both our dearest friend and greatest foe.

The Big Picture Digital transformations are designed to make things easier for customers and banks. In the process, however, companies often face unexpected hurdles. Using these moments to address emerging challenges is important, but there’s also much to gain from taking a step back – and, when necessary, leveraging an outsider’s eye and experience – to see if other meaningful opportunities have been overlooked.

For most of us, having 2020 in our rearview mirror is a welcome sight.

As most entrepreneurs will tell you, developing a business plan is one of the first critical to-do’s for establishing a new entity. Once that item is checked off the list, there’s often an eagerness to move straight into execution. But hammering out the details of your organization’s “what” is only a starting point. Particularly in professional services, there’s tremendous value in solidifying the very meaningful – albeit intangible – elements around team and culture, which are big drivers in enabling effective execution.

Business owners spend their days developing smart strategies, taking calculated risks and working hard to grow successful companies. When they decide to leave or retire, the last thing they want to see in the rear view mirror is their company starting to stumble. That’s why they should plan from launch day for two eventualities: their own personal retirement and the business’ future success.

The Big Picture In today’s heightened regulatory environment, it’s hard to imagine that just a decade ago, banks handed over charged-off accounts to outside recoveries agencies without much thought. After all, the bad debt had been written off and the banks had already invested considerable resources during the collections process trying to get those customers reestablished.

Market conditions are constantly changing, which means businesses must have the flexibility to adapt to operate successfully. But all the flexibility in the world could not have prepared businesses for the impact of the novel coronavirus. Almost immediately after COVID-19 began spreading across the United States, the economy took a huge hit that included major job losses.

Late last month, I had the pleasure of attending and facilitating a couple of on-demand panels for the American Banking Association’s (ABA’s) first-ever Risk and Compliance Virtual Conference.

Earlier this year, I was chatting with a prospective client whose professional experience looked much like mine, and many of our consultants, before coming to Spinnaker: a senior VP from a fortune 500 financial institution who’s hired countless consultants to solve complex problems.

Steady and reliable cash flow is essential to a company’s daily operations. Knowing when to expect revenue gives owners confidence in paying their own expenses, but understanding cash flow cycles is just as important to business growth – and having a buffer in case of a crisis. Good cash flow analysis can confirm that there’s money to keep the lights on, but deeper analysis can uncover ways to best capture cash from every revenue stream.

Not too long ago, banks were concentrating on how to charge and keep more – more of the fees customers pay to use an account or as a penalty for not holding up their end of the deal.

Before I invite guests to visit, I always clean my house. I tell companies striving for a winning digital transformation, particularly in my industry niche, to do the exact same thing.

Taking the time to look at where you’ve been and where you want to be headed can ensure you chart the right course going forward.

It's fair to say that most business owners are working toward greater profitability and growth. And while growth presents businesses and their employees with countless opportunities, the downside is the potential of having to stroke a big check to the Internal Revenue Service come tax time. Pile on ever-changing tax codes, exemptions, regulations and deadlines – and it’s no wonder that everyone is reaching for headache relief during tax season.

Think about how much the tried-and-true adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” says.

For many small and early-stage businesses, serving customers and running day-to-day operations can be enough to overwhelm the day. But it’s critical that these organizations carve out time to tend to their financial health daily, or at the bare minimum several times a week. With so many different metrics to track, it’s important to identify those that give you a line of sight into how your business is performing, as well as those that help you pinpoint issues brewing below the surface.

As I look back at the evolution of Spinnaker and on the learnings we’ve collected over our engagements to date, I see one common thread: our best solutions come out of need, and oftentimes a place of frustration. They rarely come from, “Hey, wouldn’t it be interesting if…” or “You know what I really want…”. They come from an individual, or a group of individuals, working towards a goal where they themselves cannot identify a solution – they need guidance and consultation on how to get to the best version of “there”, and how to do that efficiently.

In the consulting world, arriving at the endpoint is an inherent piece of the project. But amidst the inertia of reaching the goal line, an effective handoff can easily become an afterthought, even when there’s a big X on the calendar reminding you of your endpoint. While there is no silver bullet for how and when to push the closeout button, we have identified several considerations based on our experience. If you can be cognizant of these milestones along the journey, especially during the home stretch, you’ll avoid unnecessary pain and end on a high note.

As the world braces itself for the economic impact of COVID-19, banks are looking to credit risk models in an attempt to quickly understand and forecast the effects of such rapid change. But putting these models to work is no easy task.

Normally, we don’t get confirmation from the National Bureau of Economic Research on whether we’ve hit a recession until long after its start. Whether that confirmation comes sooner during the COVID-19 crisis is beside the point – many experts agree that as of March 2020 we’ve entered a recession.

Where are you on the path to making more informed, data-driven decisions? Have you identified the metrics? Do you have the right people? And most importantly, do you trust your data?

If your customer is in the throes of a major hurricane, is it the right time to attempt collections?

If you see real value in bringing machine learning to your organization and you’re not sure how to begin, Spinnaker is here to help. Here’s a primer on what you need to know to take your organization from zero to machine learning.

Question: Is your organization staying busy with things that are keeping everyone busy, or is everyone working toward achieving your core business objectives?

Data is at the heart of nearly everything we do in business. From hiring new people to determining future revenue to deciding on the right new product offering how we use data to make decisions drives business value. But what about the data itself? Decision-making is only as strong as the data you’re using. Data quality is essential.

AI — artificial intelligence — is all the rage in the world of business analytics. But, focusing on AIGT — all in good time — may serve your organization better, today and tomorrow. Developing and building an intentional analytics progression plan toward AI will not only help your organization now, it will make future jumps into AI and other emerging business analytics capabilities much easier.

With our Spinnaker Sit-Down interview, we give you VIP access to industry influencers, thought leaders, and movers-and-shakers who share their unique insights and perspectives on industry issues, trends, and questions. This month we sat down with data scientist Dr. Howard Friedman.

Do you know the difference between data and metrics? Data will do little for you until you transform it into the metrics that directly correspond with your firm’s imperatives. Leveraging those metrics to support and inform your decision-making process is what business analytics is all about. Ultimately, business analytics can help you grow faster, be more profitable, and improve nearly every function of your business, from call center operations to customer satisfaction, from marketing performance to product innovation — and more!

The Spinnaker Consulting Group team of experts joined auto finance leaders and dealer principals from around the country last week for the 22nd Annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Conference, featuring a deep dive into the key industry issue of auto finance fraud. The National Automotive Finance Association’s annual event creates the opportunity to learn about the challenges of non-prime financing including fraud, regulatory compliance, risk management, and more.