Protect - Connect - Unlock: Why these three words underpin HSBC’s new data strategy

When?World War Two reached?Hong?Kong?in 1941, and Japanese forces occupied the territory, HSBC branch staff knew?instinctively?what they needed to protect.

It wasn’t the?safe with its?reserves?of cash, gold and deposit boxes?that they hid?and locked?away. Instead, and?at huge personal risk to themselves and their families, it was the records?and ledgers - the details of our customers,?their?accounts and?the daily?transactions, which underpinned the operation of our bank.

That HSBC survived the war, and went on to thrive as an organisation, owes much to their bravery,?but also?to?their awareness that whilst cash could be replaced, the data could not.

HSBC’s history is full of examples where protecting our data was critical to both our survival and our success. Thanks to our extensive archives (in themselves a great example of how we’ve protected our data) we’re in a position to tell these stories and more.

It is for this reason that, at HSBC, we placed?Protecting our Data?as the first pillar of our new data strategy; Protect, Connect, Unlock.

The world has changed a lot since 1941, but our data continues to play an essential role in what we do. It also seems evident that the importance of our data will only grow – perhaps outpaced only by the amount of data we store, and the complexity of the data landscape we inhabit.

That complexity places demands on us all that, individually, our brains are ill-evolved to handle. The skills, knowledge and awareness required to protect and put our data to use go way beyond what any individual or even team can achieve alone.

As disciplines such as computing, data science and even neuroscience all show us, the secret to handling increasingly complex information is being more connected. From having more nodes in your neural network, to having more synapses in your brain. Whilst HSBC might feel very different to a neural network, or a brain, I believe the same principle applies. In our ecosystem of people, processes, platforms and suppliers, we operate more effectively when we are more connected.

This is why?Connecting our People?is the second pillar of our data strategy.

Being connected means we find and process information optimally. We understand what’s happening across different teams. We don’t duplicate work and if we have a problem we know where to find the solution. It also means understanding our landscape and communicating with the same terminology. This is why we have various initiatives underway to understand who our professional data people really are, to standardise the way they all operate, and to raise awareness of data topics across the entire bank.

The final pillar of our strategy is?Unlocking Value for our Customers. Back in 1941 it was perhaps sufficient merely to identify who your customer was and to make sure the money you were paying out went to the right person. Today’s successful companies often know their customers well enough to anticipate their needs and make products that resonate immediately, the data they hold providing precious insights.

There are literally millions of life-defining events happening to our customers and their businesses every day, for which financial services play a huge role: opening a new restaurant, converting currencies to finance a shipment of goods, obtaining a mortgage, or helping your child open their very first bank account. Knowing about what, when and who to talk to is the only way we open up that world of opportunity for them. Having great products and services is all very well, but if we don’t offer them in the right way at the right time, those opportunities are missed.

It’s not just our customers’ behaviour, but also our own, where data helps us shine a light and see patterns. Our people and our teams make many thousands of decisions every day. Only by being data-led can we have the confidence that those decisions are correct.

One of the many lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is that a data-led approach to decision making, underpinned by accurate and timely data, generally leads to better outcomes. It also teaches us that what the data tells us is often different to what our eyes and minds instinctively feel. In a complex world, our instincts are not always reliable, rather it’s the data and the story it tells, in which we best place our trust.

By protecting our data, connecting our people and unlocking value, we aim to make HSBC a truly data-led organisation.