We spoke to Andy Edler, Head of Corporate, Nuix, experts in investigative data analytics, to understand how organisations can manage and mitigate fraud in the context of a rising wave of cases during COVID-19 and beyond. 

Customer complaints have been rising since the pandemic. What is the biggest lesson to learn from this?

It's true that we have all heard about rising complaints and our Global Regulator Report identified that customers are in fact leaving organisations - especially banks - over their mishandling of them. 

That said, the real issue for banks and organisations is not the complaints so much as what's causing them. In many cases, customer complaints are a good barometer of inefficiencies in a bank or business, so if firms can aggregate and understand their data more effectively, valuable learnings are to be had. For instance, what's causing the complaints? Is it a failure of tech, poor customer communication, a failure of fulfilment or weak security? Any one of these areas can be addressed to better understand the landscape and where the trends are. Our experience is that organisations need to better understand the root causes of complaints and determine the right treatment strategies to improve customer experience. 

What do you feel is the largest single problem facing the banking industry today?

That's a tough question. But in terms of what's troubling banks and businesses most today I'd say fraud and related crimes are high on the agenda. Fraud is a huge problem and banks are a constant moving target. Business systems are now flooded with internal data and yet very few of them really understand the data and what it is telling them in terms of trends, strengths and weaknesses. Improved aggregation and a more fluent understanding of internal systems would flag weaknesses and enable these companies to tighten up the feedback loop and better manage and mitigate the risk of fraud, which ultimately costs them, even if the customer was unwittingly at fault.

Many organisations are replacing manual tasks with automation and reducing workforces in the process. How do you think this will impact the customer experience?

There's been several cases of large international companies replacing staff with automation tech. The move towards more automation is accelerating and is unlikely to change, but what is crucial here is that these companies need to understand their data if they want to make the transition successful. The scale and size of errors that would lead from a poor transition from manual tasks to automated ones, such as serious data leaks or other data-related mistakes, needs to be understood. The technology is there, but the comprehension of aggregating data and implementing a smooth transition can be improved. Relying on automation without checks, balances and fluent understanding carries with it enormous risks.

How can large corporations and banks combat the surging cases of data leakage?

The single most important thing corporations can do to prevent fraud is to understand their internal systems better and their data architecture. It's imperative that they understand the landscape before changes can be made. The main solution is an overview of the data they have and what they are lacking. A discovery heat map can help identify where all their data sits and the potential security flaws.

In an omnichannel world, who is responsible for an instance of fraud? 

It's true to say that a lot of mistakes occur with organisations not knowing where their data is, and having adequate controls in place to manage it across the enterprise. COVID-19 aside, the issue with fraud is that new digital channels are making "scams" harder to detect and manage and reduce. Fraudsters are sophisticated organisations in their own right and are constantly seeking new ways to exploit organisations and their customers. Another consideration is that in many cases the customer is complicit, unwittingly but ultimately the Bank takes both the hit and the blame. A lot of investment has been made to better educate customers, however some customers are more vulnerable than others, so having a deeper understanding of customer behavior and circumstances will help mitigate the risk. 

At the heart of improvement lies a deeper understanding of data and the insight it can provide. From that a review of processes to identify weaknesses or efficiencies, aligned to current systems, has to be undertaken if transforming the enterprise is to be successful. All too often organisations invest in new tech and expect it to be a panacea. However, using data to inform improvements to processes, determining technical requirements, has to be the right path. Migrating vast quantities of unnecessary data and automating a flawed process can be a very costly mistake to any business.  

For more information click here to visit Nuix