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The skinny on thick dataBy Ashley J. Willey, LeaseTeam, Inc.

TO KEEP UP with the quickly changing marketplace, many cor-porate leaders have been turning to data-driven decision-making,and leaders within the equipment leasing and finance industry areno exception. Financial institutions and software companies havebeen striving to use big data as a way to cut down on customerchurn, reduce risk, and make accurate market predictions.

Gartner, Inc. is a leading information technology andresearch advisory firm. They define big data as “high-volume, highvelocity, and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing forenhanced insight and decision-making.” While big data hasproven to be a gold mine of information, companies are quicklylearning that simply being data rich is not enough.

To harness this information, corporations rely on Chief DataOfficers to provide their organisation with the leadership to usethe data produced through quantitative analytics. But it is not justbig data that can provide a company with valuable information;useful information can be found inother ways too.

Thick data is quickly finding itsway into conversations amongstthought leaders in almost all indus-tries. Harvard Business Reviewdescribes thick data as “generated byethnographers, anthropologists, andothers adept at observing humanbehaviour and underlying motiva-tions.” However, knowing how touse this information is only part ofthe solution. The other is havingleaders in place that are willing to useall of the data that is available.

Big data. To keep up withincreasing competition for marketshare, businesses need to make deci-sions based on continuous flow ofinformation. Data analysis hasbecome a driving force in majorbusiness decisions. Often, there canbe so much data that a business doesnot always know the best approachin leveraging the information effi-ciently.

However, once an organisation has their operation procedurein place, they can better regulate the various leasing channels.They can then create responsive and efficient lease and loan struc-turing, moving them beyond simply running a business.

According to an article published by the Equipment Leasingand Finance Foundation, expertly using big data can enableequipment leasing and finance firms to:• Increase shareholder value • Increase customer satisfaction• Evaluate new market opportunities • Develop new products and services • Stay ahead of the competition

However insightful and plentiful the information, businessesare still struggling to leverage data assets and use data analysis toposition themselves strategically in the market. Organisations canbecome complacent in their daily operations. They put blind faithinto historic market trends that do not consider the technological

Table 1: Chief Data Officers (CDO)

Source: Chief Data Officer 2016 Year End Review

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

02013 2014 2015 2016 2017 (Forecast)

200300

1,000

2,000

3,000

According to our CDO Club global database, the followingnumber of people held the title of Chief Data Officer

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advanced that provide newand fast ways of communicat-ing. They also rely heavily onnominal analytic informationprovided to them. This hasthem believing that the datapoints are going to have theanswers for any of theirfuture business decisions.What they do not realise isthey only see a modest partof the bigger picture. So,what exactly is it that big datais missing?

What big data misses.Big data misses the opportu-nity for businesses to get toknow their customers andwhy their customers dosomething in the first place. Itis a matter of understandingcustomers’ emotions and howthose emotions affect busi-ness decisions.

Market trends do notchange on their own; they aredriven by customers’ wantsand needs, one way to under-stand the complexity of sucha vast and competitive marketis to examine human behav-iour.

Connecting on an emo-tional level has proven to bean excellent way to build andmaintain client relationships.According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, “a majorbank introduced a credit card for Millennials that was designed toinspire an emotional connection.” As a result, “use among the seg-ment increased by 70% and new account growth rose by 40%.”While quantitative data can provide a company with an enor-mous amount of insight, major banks and other industry leadersare finding out that there is a place for qualitative data within thefinance industry too.

Thick data. Ivan Pavlov once said, “Don’t be a recorder offacts, but try to penetrate the mystery of the origin.” In otherwords, a business should try to gain a deeper understanding oftheir customers’ mindset. Understanding a customer’s mindset isimportant to companies within the finance industry. These com-panies are working with more diversified financial products thatmitigate the risk of market downturns.

Companies that market in multiple business channels and usethe thick data that qualitative research provides can track creditdecisions against asset class and deal performance, and assist infuture weighted credit decisions. Furthermore, thick data analysiscan control the levers of portfolio concentration, exposure,

expansion, contraction, entry and exit plans for asset classificationsand customer risk rated profiles.

The combination of big data with thick data gatheredthrough qualitative research provides further insight into marketanalytics that big data cannot provide on its own. Numbers alonecan’t be the determining factor for every decision because thenumbers on a deeper level represent people that have thoughtsand feelings, preferences and opinions. Qualitative research in theleasing and finance industry is achievable many ways, including: • Focus groups• Surveys• Interviews• Questionnaires

The humanistic nature of data is what makes thick data socritical to understanding customers’ quirks, trends, habits, andbehaviours. A company can get an adequate view of the markettrends by analysing big data. If the data analysis stops there, theyare not connecting with people that ultimately drive themarket.

Compare the business-customer relationship to a group of

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Qualitative research allows companies to drill down further into their customer’s behaviours and adapt their marketingto the customers’ preferences.

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individuals sitting around texting oneanother without engaging in verbalconversation. Big data is all of theinformation they are capturing fromtexting one another. Thick data iswhat they are learning when theylook up from their devices andengaging in meaningful conversa-tion.

Thick data provides more thanjust getting to know customers; itcan also add insight into the newtalent that is entering the workforce.According to the International Future Council, the emergingtalent is envisioning the equipment finance industry to proac-tively focus on the customer and their behaviours. Furthermore,these individuals are also pursuing positions that offer a morecreative environment to work in (IFC, 2016).

Progressively, companies are beginning to understand thevalue of thick data; however, that has not always been the case. In2009, Technology Ethnographer, Tricia Wang was doing fieldresearch for Nokia in China to gain insight on the smartphoneuse within low-income communities. Wang discovered thatdespite all the data points provided by big data, low-incomesmartphone users would do “almost anything to obtain a smartphone.” She decided this would be a valuable target market.

Unfortunately, Nokia underestimated the value of the thickdata that Wang had provided and focused solely on what their bigdata was telling them. As a result of their deliberate disregard toview the entire picture, Nokia was unable to keep up with thechanging market, and the company’s reign ended. Tricia Wang’sinsight into Nokia’s demise was summed up perfectly when shesaid, “That’s the cost of missing something” (Wang, 2016).

Due to this and countless other similar opportunities lost,many companies are seeking the expertise of anthropologists andethnographers. Technology leader, Google employs anthropolo-gists, and Microsoft is the second-largest employer of anthropolo-gists in the software industry.

United States Managing Editor of the Financial Times,Gillian Tett has stated that “Anthropology can be extremely usefulfor understanding the contemporary financial world, because ofall the micro-level communities – or ‘tribes’ to use the cliché’term – that are cropping up around the financial system” (Tett,2012). Tett is determined to bridge the gap between financialinstitutions and anthropologists, and she is not alone. Bank ofAmerica is among those with the largest accessibility to big data,yet they are actively seeking cultural insights from the qualitativeresearch.

In their Fall 2015 issue of Better Money Habits, MillennialReport, “Bank of America and USA TODAY commissioned asurvey of 1,320 millennials to explore millennials’ challenges,behaviours and attitudes related to achieving financial wellness”(Pepler, 2015). Bank of America and other industry leaders under-stand the value of this information in helping them know theircustomers on a personal and emotional level.

Despite the hype around big data, there is one thing that will

remain an integral part of building a robust business relationship,and that is understanding one’s customers on a human level.Qualitative analytics answers the question, “why” that big dataotherwise misses. Thick data offers the human element that isessential to business decision making because ultimately peopledo business with other people, not data points.

Citations:• 2016 Industry Future Council – Creating New Pathways to the Future

(pp. 12–13, Rep.). (2016). Washington, D.C.: Equipment Leasing andFinance Foundation. Retrieved August 24, 2017, from http://www.citationmachine.net/apa/cite-a-report/manual

• ethnography. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved August 7,2017, from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ethnography

• Geertz, Clifford. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory ofCulture.” In The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.

• Leemon, S. M., Schulman, A., Marc de Swaan Arons, Frank van denDriest, Keith Weed, & Rayport, J. F. (2017, March 28). The New Scienceof Customer Emotions. Retrieved August 25, 2017, fromhttps://hbr.org/2015/11/the-new-science-of-customer-emotions

• Plepler, A. (2015). Better Money Habits Millennial Report . RetrievedAugust 31, 2017, from https://bettermoneyhabits.bankofamerica.com/en/millennial-report

• Tett, Gillian. “’An Anthropologist on Wall Street’.” Theorizing theContemporary, Cultural Anthropology website, May 16, 2012.https://culanth.org/fieldsights/362-an-anthropologist-on-wall-street

• Wang, T. (2016, January 20). Why Big data Needs Thick data –Ethnography Matters – Medium. Retrieved August 07, 2017, from https://medium.com/ethnography-matters/why-big-data-needs-thick-data-b4b3e75e3d7

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Author:Ashley J. Willey

Marketing Content SpecialistLeaseTeam, Inc.

4139 S. 143rd Circle Omaha, NE 68137

USTel: +1 402 493 3445

Email:ashleyw@leaseteam.com

Website:www.leaseteam.com

Table 2: Thick data v. big data

Thick data Big data

Relies of human hearing Relies on machine learningReveals the social context of connections Reveals insights with a particular range of quantified

data pointsAccepts irreducible complexity Isolates variable to identify patternsLoses scales Loses resolution

Source: Tricia Wang, Ethnography Matters

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