FICO conference draws 900+ attendees to discuss advances in analytics and decision management
- FICO CEO Will Lansing sees choppy waters ahead for fintech startups, and exciting opportunities for forward-thinking established players
- FICO CTO Stuart Wells says businesses need to focus on decisions, not data
The future of how businesses and individuals make decisions was explored from multiple angles in the opening keynote addresses at FICO® World 2016, the Decisions Conference, which runs through April 29 in Washington, DC. More than 900 attendees from 54 countries heard FICO’s leadership and guest presenter Dan Ariely discuss how businesses can improve the way they make decisions through sharper predictions of individual behavior.
“Fintech is riding a wave of optimism right now, but it remains to be seen how tightening capital markets and other macroeconomic factors will affect new companies and their business models,” said FICO CEO Will Lansing. “We believe the biggest rewards will go to businesses focused on improving risk management and making credit more accessible to everyone, worldwide, who needs it and can handle it responsibly.”
Lansing discussed FICO’s analytic approaches to incorporate more data sources into risk measures such as the FICO® Score, the standard measure of US consumer credit risk.
“So-called alternative data for underwriting isn’t an alternative at all — it’s an addition,” Lansing said. “To measure a person’s credit risk, you can’t ignore their credit history, which is the single most predictive factor. Our approach blends this proven data while adding the power of other data sources, such as rental history and utility payments, to help lenders extend credit to more people responsibly and profitably.”
Stuart Wells, FICO’s chief technology and products officer, raised the issue of the global productivity crisis, and said that complexity and lack of collaboration are choking performance and competition. “Sixty percent of IT budgets are spent maintaining outdated legacy systems, 85% of organizations aren’t able to exploit Big Data for competitive advantage, and cybersecurity problems are rampant,” Wells said. “On top of that, start-ups are stealing your customers and destroying your business model.”
Wells said these challenges call for an overhaul of the way businesses approach decisions. “Businesses need to focus on their decisions rather than just collecting data,” Wells argued. “Decisions are assets, and need to be codified, managed, stored and interrogated. Do this right and you can future-proof your business.”
These keynote addresses opened FICO® World 2016, at which professionals responsible for customer onboarding and experience, pricing, cybersecurity, risk management, compliance, fraud and IT are exploring the latest technologies and strategies for unlocking insights and powering the best decisions possible. The conference features more than 100 speakers in nearly 80 breakout sessions on analytic innovation, auto lending, collections, credit scoring, customer onboarding and experience, cybersecurity, insurance, mortgage lending and regulatory compliance.
Source: FICO World
