Banks have been slow to use the data they possess, but now a few are venturing into big data, although without much fanfare.
Abhi Mehta, CEO of big data specialist Tresata, said one problem is that most bankers don’t understand technology while IT people don’t understand banking.
“Every bank has bought into the big data Kool-Aid — they all realize they need to understand it and they need a method to play with it. The battle at the board level has been won, they are willing to invest, but they have but no idea of what to do.”
Change may be underway.
At the beginning to 2014, Thomas Davenport, a leading expert in the use of data, wrote for the CIO blog in the Wall Street Journal that JPMorgan Chase had launched a group called Intelligent Solutions. Barclays had done something similar, calling it Information Business.
The bank didn’t respond to a request for more information, but its job ads give some indication of where it hopes to go.
“JPMorgan Intelligent Solutions (JPMIS) is a new group considering ways to transform and leverage JPM proprietary data assets into opportunities for JPM. Protecting and managing intellectual property effectively as well as utilizing it to develop solutions that are both customized and scalable will enable JPM to create additional shareholder value,” it said in an ad for a development manager.
