Three Keys to Data Aggregation Success

Using information to enhance consumers' experiences and earn their loyalty

Aggregating data from a broad range of sources is critical to enhancing the consumer experience and providing the most innovative offerings. Finding the right data aggregation solutions and providers requires clear alignment between their capabilities and your business objectives.

Financial institutions and technology firms may choose from various methods for aggregating data. For implementation, three factors define success: reliability, adaptability and security.

1. Reliability

Reliability is the foundation for building a successful data aggregation platform. For example, when borrowers fill out mortgage applications, the right infrastructure should be in place to quickly and accurately access their data and verify assets to prompt next steps in the application process. Instead of chasing down paper documents, financial institutions can use data aggregation to automatically pull existing digital information.

To help ensure reliability, a data aggregation platform should have the infrastructure to:

• Ensure data requests are processed quickly and seamlessly
• Update and repair connections quickly
• Solve problems in real time

2. Adaptability

Financial institutions and technology providers need data to be more adaptable in response to changing consumer needs. As technology facilitates more personalized offerings, quickly adapting to evolving needs and supporting additional business models is paramount. Depending on the financial institution or technology firm, that could mean implementing new data elements or enhancing API structures.

Adapting to new offerings – and quickly implementing them – is key, as is partnering with a data aggregator to expedite new offerings. Data needs to available in weeks, not months; any implementation delay will shorten the market differentiation offered by new, exciting features.

3. Security

Cybercriminals continually devise new methods to access and exploit data, which is generally more secure when it's actively protected by the same partner providing the aggregation platform. As handoffs and exchanges of data occur, the possibility of data being intercepted or corrupted can increase. For compliance and security, it's important to work with a data aggregator that will not sell consumers' data and uses only consumer-permissioned data for your application.

Loss of data and any activity that compromises information are the largest threats to a company's reputation and viability. Enlisting a partner with wide-ranging experience in the financial industry and extensive data-warehousing capabilities helps ensure a better understanding of an organization's unique business environment, including the many regulations that protect consumer data.

Financial institutions and technology firms should ask data aggregators several important questions regarding their security protocols:

• How is your data protected and stored? What methodologies are used?
• What are your data retention policies and what happens to the data when a customer terminates or deletes an account?
• How is data transmitted?
• Is your annual System and Organization Controls (SOC) report available for clients to review?

Meeting Expectations, Earning Loyalty

In a competitive market, the proficiency with which financial institutions and technology firms obtain data can determine how consumers view their solutions.

Working with a partner that can reliably aggregate data with built-in adaptability and security will help organizations stay ahead of technological advances. That assistance can provide durable financial applications to help enhance consumers' experiences and earn their long-term loyalty.