What a Difference the Data Makes!

In a world where information is everywhere and phrases like ‘big data’ and ‘data is king’ exist it can be overwhelming and hard to see the wood for the trees. When I was starting out in my role, leading BDMs at Skipton, one of the things that came up at interview and was clearly an objective for the role was to ‘work out the data strategy’. This was a challenge that quite frankly terrified me, firstly because I didn’t really know what that meant and secondly because it wasn’t an area I had much expertise in.

Always start with why…

I had to work out why it was important. The team were already doing a great job and the business was going from strength to strength so what was this missing piece of the puzzle? The more I learnt about the diverse people we have in the team, the more I began to appreciate the differing levels of the use of data, and in a role where relationships and knowledge is everything, that seemed to be okay. I then realised that the BDMs who viewed data as the enemy were at a disadvantage. Some colleagues were highly skilled in manipulating and analysing data from several sources which gave them some powerful insights into where they would be most effective in spending their time. So, it became my mission to stick to the Skipton mantra of ‘making things easier for you’ by improving processes in our team.

By making an easy-to-use sourcing tool which uses our own appointment, sales and wider mortgage market data we’ve been able to save time for the BDMs who have been actively analysing the data themselves. Now with just a few clicks they can see where there is the most potential business to be won and focus their efforts accordingly. Now, I’m not saying it’s perfect and we certainly have a long way to go with brining this to life through practice, training and getting everyone to make friends with the data, but it’s a start in levelling the playing field and making data more accessible. I stand by my earlier comment that relationships and knowledge are everything in this business, but by using data as well, it gives colleagues more direction and clarity on where they can gain an advantage or where opportunities could be missed.

Regardless of your field of expertise, the workplace and business have become increasingly competitive, which is driving us all to look for the efficiencies and angles to gain a competitive edge. By using data and making sure your decisions are led by sound data, you can almost always put yourself in a better position. For example, we’ve recently launched a pilot in a couple of our northern regions where data has told us that additional resource to support brokers is needed to help increase our market share. It’s not about how much data you have, it really is what you do with it.

For Intermediary Use Only.