IR: Deliver better business insights through predictive analytics

Supply chains are broken. Container ships remain dockside. Trucking companies need thousands of new drivers and finding staff to help out at your local bar or restaurant is becoming harder with each passing day. Popular holiday resorts are so understaffed that even the most luxurious of retreats cannot offer you an adult beverage or seat you for a fine-dining experience.

The global pandemic has accelerated the need to be totally aware of your business environment and made it clear that being equipped with the right tools is of paramount importance. Simply stepping outside your place of business to take a look at what’s happening up and down the street no longer is an option; simply put, trends and patterns are emerging almost as fast as they disappear.

Then again, for IT professionals providing access to data is only part of the story. What IT is experiencing is a wealth of data flowing into their organizations, but for many of these businesses such wealth of information brings with it the realization that there is simply too much data to plow through in order to realize anything meaningful. As any farmer will tell you, a deluge only goes so far in providing relief; better still the steady fall of rain than a raging torrent.

When it comes to the NonStop community, particularly those members supporting major financial institutions, there has always been an awareness of the data being created on NonStop. At the very forefront of interactions with consumers NonStop sees it all, first.  That new transaction only recently implemented has attracted little interest whereas that former, less well-known option, is being engaged with almost every interaction with a consumer. Patterns have changed and changed in an instant. So how do we navigate in these times and do so in a meaningful manner? How do we see those nuggets of gold amongst the tons of detritus?

“In today’s competitive financial marketplace, big data is a fact of life. But data is useless, without the skills and tools to analyze it. Financial organizations of all sizes are realizing the importance of integrating data analytics into their processes,” wrote IR’s Jason Krebs in his latest post to the IR Blog, How to uncover better business insights. “Leveraging analytics and new technologies can help payments providers uncover more intelligent insights and improve business performance.”

Providing analytics on transaction performance, including highlighting changing patterns particularly where the data suggests something extraordinary worthy of immediate attention, has been a major feature of IR’s solutions. Ensuring everything that is happening today and mapping that against former patterns (now considered normal operations) has driven the solutions to be more data aware. Turning data into actionable information providing meaningful business insight has been the goal of IR for some time. Becoming predictive, capable of detecting and then responding to outlying conditions, is yet another feature that is highly valued by all IT operations professionals.

“Your data contains a wealth of information business leaders need to make better decisions and execute the most beneficial strategic business moves,” Krebs writes. “Analytics-driven strategies can lead to increased profitability by reducing costs and optimizing revenue in a great variety of areas. In fact, there’s a plethora of information and actionable insights to be harvested from your payment data.” And this is key as being presented with data lakes and data warehouses opens the door to an overwhelming torrent of data that left outside of operational strategies has the potential to leave any business unprotected from the changes happening all around it. The idea of simply stepping outside a business’s front door the better to assuage your curiosity about what’s happening is neither professional nor smart.

However, analytics by itself is only half the story, according to Krebs. The more important aspect from wading through the torrents of data flowing by is to apply predictive analytics. “This technology allows organizations to analyze historical data to predict future outcomes and / or the likelihood of specific outcomes occurring. Predictive analytics enables organizations to anticipate customer needs and concerns predict future trends and ultimately gain an advantage over the competition.”

What our users prize above all else, notes Krebs, is how “Analytics deliver real-time intelligence and actionable insights that no business can afford to be without. With transaction volumes increasing, new payment methods rapidly emerging, and greater customer expectation for a seamless, personalized payments experience, it’s vital your business can keep up with changing market demands.” This should strike a positive note for any NonStop user today whether NonStop is in support of financial institutions or simply providing the underlying infrastructure of other mission critical applications.

Gaining the confidence needed to take actions as a result of any predictive analytics implemented is always fraught with concerns about the underlying reliability of the solution. However, when it comes to relying on IR’s solutions, decades of experience in real world scenarios, featuring some of the biggest financial institutions on the planet, will go a long way to building the confidence needed.

If as yet you have missed reading this latest post from IR’s Krebs and you had difficulties accessing it through the hyperlink provided above you can always cut and past the following url into your favorite browser –

https://www.ir.com/blog/payments/how-to-uncover-better-business-insights

And should you have any questions or would like to learn more about IR’s solutions and the support provided for predictive analytics, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your IR sales team. We look forward to addressing any topic that may be of interest to you and your enterprise.

Kevin Johnson,
VP Sales – Payments Performance Monitoring
www.ir.com