Decision automation systems in banks are moving from the frontiers of innovative thinking to a mainstream necessity. Executives realize that they either innovate or stagnate. Nine out of 10 banks have reconsidered their approaches to the synergy between IT and customer satisfaction, and are in the process of reconsidering (or soon will) reconsider their operating models, according to a recent KPMG survey.

Here are the top outcomes for financial institutions who have embraced embedding their big data into customer treatment decisions and policies:

1. Hefty data combined with agile decision-making parameters. A free and extremely valuable commodity – internal data – is leveraged to build and maintain scorecards internally, without approaching external vendors.
2. Reduced churn rates and increased conversion rates achieved by using predictive analytics for customer service and marketing purposes.
3. Balance between debt recovery and customer retention. This is achieved through developing self-cure collections strategies along with a more effective way to approach high risk accounts.
4. Easy-to-use mechanisms for governance and risk reporting.
5. Solid enterprise risk management framework to accomplish executive oversight of risk.

We all know that challenges are hidden opportunities for growth. In this case, banks which are threatened by their tech-savvy competitors have the chance to solve their impediments for going through technological changes. And these impediments are: data quality problems, ease-of-use challenges, and integration & compatibility issues (according to 2012 BI and Information Management report by InformationWeek). Obviously, using decision automation along with predictive analytic techniques makes overcoming these challenges easier and more fruitful. Ultimately, the ‘rewards’ of success will go far beyond the benefits outlined in this article.