Harnessing big data: Turning volume into value in financial services

Today, the creation of data is exponential, with more data created in the last two years than there has been in the entire previous history of the human race. Data is used and generated by every sector of the world today. Growth in electronic data creation and aggregation has exploded in the last few years with the rise of social media sites, blogs, Q&A, and content distribution through websites. The big shift from tradition to the new era of big data has been hailed by many experts across multiple industries. Retailers choosing not to embrace big data to realize their analytic potential could reluctantly cede around 60 billion in profit in the next five years. Financial services markets are going through a similar data explosion, with the demand for data to help drive business decisions exploding at a faster rate than the capability of many established internal data warehouses.

To frame the boundaries of this report, it is useful to turn to literature on digital information in the field of finance and data analysis. We use the definition suggested by IDC: 'Big Data is a shorthand label that encompasses a combination of several major trends and changes occurring in the IT industry that aim at offering greater insight and better business decision-making analysis.' These trends include an increased volume and variety of data being generated, asset management, and business intelligence. Whether considered internally or more broadly as a part of the state of the global economy, financial services firms have seen two recent, decades-old market trends that suggest either a beginning or a huge transformation with rich payoff potential.