Advice businesses that are planning to increase the use of data analytics at their practices should follow a few rules.
Asked about the importance of data analytics and what role it should play for advice businesses at the AIA Adviser Summit, Matt Brown, executive general manager, advice, at Australian Unity, said that businesses considering increasing their use of data analytics should make sure they were good with data or hire a professional.
“If data isn’t your thing, engage someone who does data analytics for you, don’t get distracted because you end up in a black hole of time if you try to manipulate data yourself. That will be my first lesson learnt a quite few years ago,” he said.
“Rule number two is when you are looking for data and you’re looking at the opportunities, you’ve got to be prepared to address what you find.
“Where we see data is really powerful is where we come from the perspective of two things: prevention is always better than cure, so if you are looking at data analytics then look at it in a way which doesn’t look backwards about what things have I missed on and what incidents or issues do I have in my business, you can do a bit of that, but make it prospective.”
According to Brown, data analytics should be used by advice practices in a way that could help them gain a better understanding of how the business is going and what might be coming up within the next few months.
“Prospective prevention is better than cure data analytics for driving a safe and sound growing business.”
Brown also said that the other area at which advisers were getting better at thanks to data analytics was a better understanding of their clients’ needs before the client would come to that.
“Advisers have such rich information about their clients that no one knows them better than you from professional services perspective. Utilising that with some smart data analytics, very pointed, what are the things that you foresee coming they [clients] don’t know yet but they are going to need them and prepare for them early. That is how I see data being used effectively,” he said.
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