It’s safe to say that global capital markets face an environment of extreme uncertainty. Consider that regulators in the United States have finalised just 51 of the 400 rules (less than 15 percent) that will eventually make up the Dodd-Frank Act. But until those details are finalised, investment banks must find a way to make decisions and conduct business.
Leapfrogging to high performance
At Accenture, we see five possible approaches, situated on a spectrum from reactive to proactive. We see the most potential for banks to adopt a proactive, or ‘leapfrog’ approach, which includes four key elements:
- Thinking holistically, considering a range of possible scenarios.
- Developing data-driven insight.
- Making touch decisions, embedding client centricity throughout.
- Being sufficiently adaptable.
Banks that adopt this approach will be able to:
- Better understand their key clients, and therefore enhance their client acquisition, retention and cross-selling capabilities.
- Develop future market understanding with detailed analysis and an effective transformation programme.
- Understand their current process, risks and cost base to better minimise costs and maximise revenues.
- Identify opportunities to scale commoditised processes and products.
Data and decision making
Recent Accenture research found that 40 percent of major business decisions are not based on data. We believe that superior analytics are the foundation of an effective decision-making process—one that enables fine-tuning, continuous optimisation and enables a competitive advantage.
Download Challenge 1: Making Decisions in Uncertain Times (pdf; opens in a new window).