AUGUST 5, 2021

A DATA – DRIVEN APPROACH TO

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
CASE ANALYSIS

GROUP 04 – BAN120 - ZAA

Professor Dr. Preety Wadhwa

Course- Number
STUDENT NAME & ID
Nadishani Wijewardena (136873205)
Sunil Kumar (154271191)
BAN120-ZAA
COMPLETED SECTIONS
CASE ANALYSIS REPORT (Problem Statements |
Decision Criteria | Alternatives | Analysis |
Recommendations | Action Plan)
Questions 1- 5

Rahul Raj Zutshi (120019203) Presentation

Palvinder Singh (151507209) Questions 6- 10

CASE ANALYSIS REPORT (Recommendations |
Alternatives)
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTON ............................................................................................................................ 2
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM(S) ...................................................................................................... 2
DECISION CRITERIA...................................................................................................................... 3
ALTERNATIVES ............................................................................................................................. 3
ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Alternative 1: Getting a web-based analytics and AI tools to work for you ........................... 5
Alternative 2: Creating an Eco System which can be used to communicate internally and
externally ................................................................................................................................ 5
Alternative 3: Creating a dedicated IT department with specialists to handle IT support,
privacy, implementation and other issues ............................................................................. 5
Alternative 4: Further improvements on Market Edge by combining Data from other
functional areas ...................................................................................................................... 5
Alternative 5: Partner with fintech specialists to develop AI and chatbot facilities .............. 6
Alternative 6: Creating a Loyalty programs and bundled packages for existing Market Edge
Customers ............................................................................................................................... 6
ACTION AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ....................................................................................... 7
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 9

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INTRODUCTON
Nedbank has always been a pioneer in technological innovation amongst the South African banks.
It was the first bank to introduce South Africa to computerized banking. Also, the bank claims to
be the first which leverage the power “big data” when it launched “Market Edge” for the
merchants. Using this product, merchant is able see their customers transactional and
demographic data, and plan workforce, product development, and inventory.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM(S)
KEY PROBLEM: Being South Africa’s Leader Nedbank is left with the need to stay at the position
while being in par with the Winning in Transactional strategy plan, they have laid out. They are
required to find innovative ways to both serve and attract new customers and to retain their
existing commercial clients. And they believe that the solution to this problem is hidden in the
use of bank’s enormous transaction data to assist consumers in improving their service.
As per the authors’ opinion the best approach to tackle this key query and is identify the
underlying problems which are stated below.
• PROBLEM A: Not having the most effective Sales force to sell Market Edge despite the
training
• PROBLEM B: Delays caused in all the IT project that required technology support due to
unorganized IT infrastructure in place
• PROBLEM C: Figuring out the best way to get the customers to make Nedbank their main
bank using Market Edge
• PROBLEM D: 4-CUBED not being accessible to everyone and not meeting everyone’s
needs
• PROBLEM E: Issues which will rise around Privacy and Data Security

By finding the best solutions for aforementioned matters the best recommendations can be
determined.

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DECISION CRITERIA
When addressing the overreferenced problems following factors should be taken into
consideration to ensure that all the aspects which is in key play was touched upon.

DC1 Attracting new customers and retaininig existing customers

DC2 Contributing to core business revenue
DC3 Utilzing existing task forice
DC4 Maintaining data privacy
DC5 Increasing merchant locations for Market Edge
DC6 Addressing secondary issues

ALTERNATIVES
To wrestle the identified problems there are few solutions which can be presented which will
cover one or more identified problems using one alternative,

Alterantive 1
•Getting a web-based analytics and AI tools to work for you

Alternative 2
•Creating an Eco System which can be used to communicate internaly and externally

Alternarive 3
•Creating a dedicated IT department with specialists to handle IT support, privacy ,
implementation and other issues

Alternarive 4
•Further improvements on MarketEdge by combining Data from other functional areas

Alternarive 5
•Partner with fintech speicialists to develop AI and chatbot facilities

Alternarive 6
•Creating a Loyalty programe for existing Market Edge Customers bundling other products

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ANALYSIS
Suitable alternative Suitable but with conditions Not a suitable alternative Neutral/No
impact

DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 DC6

With business RnD costs Will positively Will have to pay PROBLEM A
ALT_1 development will involved impact extra attention PROBLEM C
help retain on this area
customers

Will positively Will positively Will positively Might raise some PROBLEM D
ALT_2 impact impact in long impact issues PROBLEM C
run

Will positively Will positively Will positively PROBLEM B

ALT_3 but indirectly impact in long No impact impact in long PROBLEM E
impact run run

Will positively Will positively Will have to make Might raise some PROBLEM C
ALT_4 and directly and directly some alterations issues if not
impact impact by hiring further taken cared of
experts beforehand

Will positively Will positively Will positively PROBLEM A

ALT_5 but indirectly but indirectly Will have to make impact PROBLEM B
impact impact hire experts PROBLEM C

Will positively Will positively PROBLEM C

ALT_6 impact impact No impact No impact

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Alternative 1: Getting a web-based analytics and AI tools to work for you
A well-informed and experienced workforce can contribute innovative ideas for implementing
and utilizing big data analytics. They can provide your business a comprehensive makeover,
including improved operational capabilities, profitability, risk reduction, and customer
experience. The basic concept is to gather and analyses customer/visitor behavior patterns over
a period of time in order to extract relevant insights that can be used to enhance product
development, training needs, and deliver a tailored experience to consumers based on their
needs. Having the appropriate people on board will also help the bank adapt to the fast-paced
world of analytics and foster an atmosphere that encourages innovation and creativity. This will
involve creating Chatbots and virtual assistants.

Alternative 2: Creating an Eco System which can be used to communicate internally

and externally
Creating well-connected inside the bank's many divisions to create an eco-system that can
interact internally and make their services available to all. This way it will reduce the exhaustion
of the current task force in the bank.
Also, with proper security applications and sharing rules applied on the system this can be further
extended where customers can interact with the bank directly using the same channels.

Alternative 3: Creating a dedicated IT department with specialists to handle IT

support, privacy, implementation and other issues
In order to have the intended results from all the suggestion we are making placing the IT
infrastructure correctly would be the most important alternative. Without this in place there’s
only a very low chance of any of the solutions being implemented. When a dedicated IT team is
created, the bank should ensure to include specialists from all the areas such as IT support,
implementation support, software experts, hardware experts and especially data and security
experts to be prepared and avoid any data and security issues which may occur in the future due
to involvement of loads of customer data.

Alternative 4: Further improvements on Market Edge by combining Data from other

functional areas
A Nedbank in-house team designed and created a data analytics platform to track consumer
spending behavior, combining it with data from other functional areas, and generating actionable
insights for businesses bring an exceptional amount of value to the product which is irreplaceable
by any competitor in the play.
These further improvements can involve including predictive analytic modules to help the
customers to budgeting, providing tips to reduce expenditure based on their spending behavior,
and automating savings towards a goal the customers can set. Since it states that even the
customers are still unaware of what they want this improvement will amaze them.

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Alternative 5: Partner with fintech specialists to develop AI and chatbot facilities
It is an integral decision to make the decision on partnering up with Fintech specialist if there are
any plans of developing AI based services or chatbots and etc. According to MARKETLINE (13), AI
is a very complex field, and even banks with a lot of resources will struggle to build AI capabilities
without outside assistance from AI experts and this is where the Fintech experts will come into
play. Even though this will require considerable portion of investments we believe that would be
the correct decision to make considering the perks it will bring to the table in the future.

Alternative 6: Creating a Loyalty programs and bundled packages for existing Market
Edge Customers
This is one of the ideals ways to make the customers loyal to product or service. When a loyalty
program is introduced which is coupled with offers, products and services provided by the
Nedbank it will attract the customers to use other services as well. When everything the
customers prefer from a bank can be solved under one roof with loyalty and rewards it will
eventually make the customers to make Nedbank their main bank.

DECISION(S)/ RECCOMENDATION(S)
• Creating a web-based analytics and AI tools to work for you
1

• Prioritising the establishment of proper IT infrastructure and staff

2.
• Opening a central database to expand the reach of the data and enable individual
3 managers to extract meaningful insights.

• Implementing chatbots and virtual assistants and AI tools

4
• Including predictive analysis, smart budgeting and automated savings functions in Market
5 Edge

• Creating a Loyalty Program for Nedbank Market Edge customers

6

The above recommendations are made by considering areas which can be used to tackle all or
most of the problems identified such as not having an effective sales force to sell market edge,
improper IT infrastructure, systems not being accessible to everyone, etc.

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ACTION AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Getting a web-based analytics and AI tools to work for you

Plan Type (ST/LT) Long-Term

Who In house IT teams with Fintech specialists
What Creating tools which can Enhance product development, training
needs, and deliver a tailored experience to consumers based on their
needs.
How Gather and analyses customer/visitor behavior patterns over a period
of time in order to extract relevant insights
Creating an Eco System which can be used to communicate internally and externally

Plan Type (ST/LT) Short-Term

Who In house IT teams with Fintech specialists and other divisional heads
What Having centralized systems and repositories including communication
channels
How Creating common channels to communicate and opening a central
database to expand the reach of the data and enable individual
managers to extract meaningful insights.
Creating a dedicated IT department with specialists to handle IT support, privacy,
implementation and other issues

Plan Type (ST/LT) Short-Term

Who Nedbank Management
What Creating a dedicated IT team with experts
How Hiring the relevant experts and assigning KPIs to them
Training the existing IT staff with the help of hired experts
Further improvements on Market Edge by combining Data from other functional areas

Plan Type (ST/LT) Short-Term

Who IT divisions and Fintech experts
What Implementing new features into the existing product
How Adding below modules to the existing app,
➢ predictive analytic modules to help the customers to
budgeting,
➢ providing tips to reduce expenditure based on their spending
behavior,
➢ automating savings towards a goal the customers can set

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Partner with fintech specialists to develop AI and chatbot facilities

Plan Type (ST/LT) Short-Term

Who Nedbank Management
What Signing partnerships with Fintech specialists
How Creating a strategic proposal
Identifying experts in the area
Start having meeting and signing partnerships with the specialists
Creating a Loyalty Program for Nedbank Market Edge customers

Plan Type (ST/LT) Short-Term

Who Sales and Marketing Teams
What Creating the ideal loyalty programs and bundled packages to attract
customers to bank for all their banking needs
How Conduct customer surveys, focus groups to identify customer needs
and why they use other banks
Conducting interviews with customers to identify what else they
expect from the bank and under what conditions they are planning to
convert
Implementing promotions and conduct trial and error.

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REFERENCES
• MARKETLINE. “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Banking.” The Future of

Artificial Intelligence in Banking, 2017, pp. 2–22.

• Winig, Laura. “A Data-Driven Approach to Customer Relationships.” A Case Study of

Nedbank’s Data Practices in South Africa, 2016, pp. 1–19, sloanreview.mit.edu/case-

study/a-data-driven-approach-to-customer-relationships.

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