Austin Capital Bank Modernizes Data Stack with ThoughtSpot to Democratize Analytics and Improve the Customer Experience

Data is only as good as what you make of it. We wanted to leverage its infinite potential as a growth driver by ensuring all stakeholders could maximize its decision-making potential.

Ian BassHead of Data AnalyticsAustin Capital Bank

Challenge

While there seems to be a significant technological leap every few years (hello, generative AI), Austin Capital Bank has realized a simple truth: data is a ubiquitous source of transformation and innovation. From a FinTech viewpoint, innovation and sustained digital transformation efforts are a way to achieve growth objectives. But from a bank perspective, traditional tussles with modernity still exist. Helping the tech-averse see new solutions as a helping hand, rather than a headache, is an uphill battle. Something Ian Bass quickly encountered after his appointment as Head of Data Analytics.

“Upon joining, it was evident that automation and data analytics were lacking,” Ian recalled. “The existing framework was characterized by disconnected databases and manual data extraction and manipulation, with minimal automation.”

The existing data environment was as daunting as it was disparate, particularly for non-technical business users. It lacked user-friendliness and was plagued by convoluted processes to derive simple insights. The complexity of data modelling and deployment meant Ian and his team were responsible for custom analyses instead of more mission-critical initiatives.

This siloed, top-down approach needed a refresh. Not only did it significantly slow the decision-making process of business people, it was also antithetical to the bank’s data-obsessed philosophy. Ian was determined to usher in a new era of analytics accessibility, one that enabled stakeholders across every level and line of business to confidently navigate the data environment and access and analyze data without dependence on the data analytics team.

Solution

Before Ian’s arrival, data analytics was a drawn-out affair riddled with complexity. There were several hoops to jump through – a Python script had to be written, data had to be extracted from the AWS PostgreSQL databases, the script needed to be run, and after all of that, the file could finally be uploaded to Tableau to get the desired results.

To improve this process, he established a Snowflake environment, but understood more was needed to nurture easy and timely access to insights. That’s when he turned to ThoughtSpot.

“Data can only work for an organization if the analytics is democratized; I wanted to build a data culture where people could fearlessly create charts and visualization, the only caveat being that they knew the data well enough,” explained Ian. “After evaluating the various options, my team had no doubt that ThoughtSpot’s self-service analytics capabilities would perfectly address our needs.”

The clincher for ThoughtSpot was that it is effortless and doesn’t scare users. All they need to do is be familiar with the data set they want to use, the terms of their specific domain, and run their search. Just know your data, and you are ready to roll with this tool.

Ian BassHead of Data AnalyticsAustin Capital Bank

Impact

ThoughtSpot is now firmly at the center of the bank’s business operations, helping multiple departments track the broader health of their business. Austin Capital Bank's CEO and FinTech president are among the organization’s top 10 users, which illustrates its critical role in their data stack. The bank leverages 20-25 Liveboards that are monitored regularly, for insights into paid search, hourly conversions, spend perspective, business reviews, overall financials, and more.

Thanks to ThoughtSpot’s ease of use, more users of all technical expertise have readily embraced the solution to simplify and uplevel daily tasks and responsibilities. Two anecdotal pieces of evidence showcase how ThoughtSpot has simplified data analytics and infused independence:

• An affiliate manager uses ThoughtSpot daily to track their part of the business, which includes lead generation and conversions and the choice of products. Although they have no experience with SQL or building dashboards, they don’t need help from the analytics team to look for answers or generate real-time insights.

• An employee in the fraud department with some SQL experience used to reach out to the data team to help create the right SQL query. Now, this process has been simplified and they can independently rely on ThoughtSpot.

“For me, success is when users across the board champion the cause of data by being able to use it effectively,” said Ian. “ThoughtSpot has empowered key decision-makers to get out of their Excel-focused data hubris and transition to a more automated and granular approach to data analytics.”

Some of the big wins of a more convenient data analytics framework include:

• Drill-down insights delivered by ThoughtSpot helped Austin Capital Bank conduct an extensive analysis of their paid search, which enabled the bank to optimize spend and improve retention by 15%

• 50% reduction in paid search spend improved the banks revenue margin by roughly 30%

• Faster adoption of ThoughtSpot with 25+ users, 80% to 90% of whom are management, who actively use the solution each month

What's next

Ian and his team intend to further maximize the potential of ThoughtSpot Sage to train their data model to deliver better answers. Sage is ThoughtSpot's AI-powered search experience that combines natural language processing, generative AI, and patented search technology to offer easy-to-understand insights.

He looks forward to achieving a tighter integration between ThoughtSpot and Atlan, the bank's Active Metadata Management platform; and intends to build a framework wherein data consumers can seamlessly move from one tool to another to search for assets. For example, if a search on Atlan shows a particular table is also available on ThoughtSpot, the user can quickly pivot to ThoughtSpot to leverage the table and visualize the answer. And soon, they will have the ability to offer Atlan’s metadata within ThoughtSpot’s Search Data tool.

Perhaps most significantly, Ian plans to use ThoughtSpot to build out a Customer360 Liveboard to provide a unified, comprehensive view into current customer behavior, such as specific page visits, contact history, and frequency of website visits, log-ins, and monthly communication touchpoints. This window into the overall customer health and experience isn’t something they’ve had before and will be an invaluable tool to help build more customer-oriented operations, products, and services.