Obinna Dike, Citi Professional - What is Business Analytics Worth?

Obinna Dike has worked with Citi in London and in New York. He is an expert in software systems and business analytics.

In most situations the difference in value of business analytics is the difference between teams that know what they are worth and those who don’t. General perception is that if a team can’t explain its value then its time is worthless.

Effective business analytics teams strive for continuous value creation. On the way to this goal, they create a variety of intangible assets that help collect, manage, present, and predict data.

For example, a marketing analytics team may create a model that segments customer database to improve the results of direct marketing efforts. By segmenting customers, an organization could improve its conversion rates and customer retention.

Even though information presented by business analytics teams is intangible, it makes sense to account for it as if it were an asset.

In most situations there is a simple solution for determining the value of a business analytics team. When insights drive monetary outcomes, the case could be made for tracing the value chain back to the original assets. Doing so allows not only for linking specific insights to outcomes, but also for identifying influence weights.

The fact that value changes over time is logical and obvious. When it comes to business analytics, this fact does cause an issue. Most teams fail to treat their analytical assets as valuable.

When it comes to money, we usually keep a close eye on the returns of our investments. A rational investor wants to make sure that he is getting the best possible return on his investment.

Analytical assets such as models are no different. They are investments that need to be protected and preserved.

However, the biggest asset of any organization is its people. Having talented engineers like Obinna Dike Citi is an investment worth every penny.

Obinna Dike, Citi Professional - Business Analytics in Complex Environments

Obinna Dike is a gifted software engineer who works for Citi in New York. He is an expert in developing software for complex environments.

When integrating business analytics into complex environments, it is important to include some flexibility.

Even a moderately sophisticated business analytics platform will often result in discovery and will need operational support. It may also need access to different environments that include development, testing, and final production use cases.

Setting such a platform initially requires a significant investment in technology and human resources. Because of the size of this investment, it makes perfect sense to utilize this resource as much, and as effectively, as possible.

Usage is hard to predict beforehand. The reality is such that no matter how hard you try, your predictions will be wrong most of the time. The production environment may be undersized, or the discovery environment may not be designed to accommodate greater than expected usage.

There is a better approach than basing the architecture on physical and logical separation. This approach includes establishing a virtualization layer on top of the physical environment.

This allows organizations to reallocate processing power based on emerging new needs and requirements. If the production operation environment needs to grow and the discovery environment needs to shrink, then the solution can be as easy as adjusting the virtualization settings.

Even when you focus on implementing the best practices, you should understand that more often than not you will get it wrong. Because of this, it makes sense to create the platform in a way that allows for flexible reconfiguration of the environment based on changing needs. To do so, you need to be hiring talented software developers like Citi’s Obinna Dike, who can do the job efficiently and professionally.

Obinna Dike, Citi Professional - The Challenges of Using Business Analytics

Obinna Dike works as a software engineer for Citi in the Greater New York area. He has over seven years of experience with creating complex software systems, and working with big data and business analytics.

Business analysts work in a challenging environment. On the one hand, they are efficient because they have well-defined, purposeful processes and models.

On the other hand, there is no innovation without experimentation and trying to do different things in different ways.

Innovation and efficiency directly contradict each other. This presents organizations with a challenge: focusing on just one of these, and ignoring the other, inevitably leads to a low value. 

One way to approach this challenge is to make efficiency the primary goal. When such a goal is created, analysts can develop very well-defined and results-oriented processes. However, this comes at a cost: such processes are usually very resistant to change. Every time things change, they usually fail to keep up. Adapting the processes to change requires a significant investment of time and money. 

Business intelligence analytics is a prime example of this challenge. To manage risk and have defined prerequisites, most organizations exhaustively scope metric requirements before developing reports. The advantage of this approach is that is allows for repeatability, reduces uncertainty, and formalizes processes and roles. 

The problem is that such an approach is very inflexible. A business may not know what it needs to focus on until it analyzes a vast array of data. It is also challenging, and at times impossible, to build models and reports based on unknown or nonstandard requirements. 

In most situations the answer is about achieving a balance between flexibility and certainty.  Software engineers like Obinna Dike Citi can build any model as long as the client knows what he is looking for.

Obinna Dike, Citi Professional - How to Get Started with Analytics in Your Business

Obinna Dike has been working with Citi in the United Kingdom and the United States for over five years. He has tremendous experience when it comes to software systems, big data, and business analytics.

The word analytics means discovery, collection, and interpretation of patterns in data.

What data should your business collect? Are you collecting enough data already?

Success of an organization in the marketplace directly depends on the possession of key assets and skills. Therefore, an analysis of strong players in the market will reveal the causes behind a successful track record.
This is how you get started with analytics in business. You don’t start collecting everything. You figure out the parameters that matter, start with them, and expand from there.

These parameters are also known as value elements. Identifying, collecting, and tracking value elements in your marketplace will give you a very deep understanding of the marketplace.

For example, search engines have the following value elements: speed of obtaining results, speed of loading, accuracy of search results, ease of use, visual design, and advanced features.

You can find analytics behind every successful business strategy. You can’t have a strategy if you don’t know what is currently happening in the marketplace, and to know what is happening means to collect a lot of numbers and analyze them.

Everything in the market has competition. Even if the marketplace is empty, you do have competition. Your competition is the absence of a solution, not doing anything about a problem, or not knowing that a solution exists. Unless everybody buys from you, they do have choice. You have to understand what that choice is and collect data to make decisions about your business.

The Role of Analytics and Data in Competitive Intelligence

Many businesses approach the subject of competitive intelligence in the wrong way.

Competitive intelligence is not something you do once. It’s not something you do from time to time because some of your employees have nothing better to do.

Competitive intelligence should be a systematic, ongoing process. It is a gathering and analysis of information about competition, customers, and your marketplace.

The purpose of gathering data should not be data for the sake of data.  The goal of competitive intelligence is to create actionable insights.

What do you measure? First, you measure all numbers such as customer value, conversion rate, and different metrics that show how effective a call center is, and so on.

When it comes to analytics and competitive intelligence, many businesses do not pay enough attention to the opportunity to become a customer of their competitors.

Yes, it is painful to reach into your pocket and give some of your hard-earned money to your competitors. However, this opportunity comes with an unbelievable return on investment. You will be able to see all of the customer promotions and all of the internal marketing that your competitors are doing. You will be able to rip apart their products and dissect their services to get an idea on how to make your products and services better.

You will also be able to see what your competitors are doing after the sale to make the sale stick and to have their existing customers come back and buy again. Hiring professionals like Obinna Dike Citi and building analytics platforms would allow you to integrate all this information into usable reports that create actionable insights to further grow your business.

Obinna Dike of Citi - First Steps of Starting a Hedge Fund

Obinna Dike Citi is a financial software engineer who has worked with Citi for several years. Like many financially-minded individuals, Citi’s Obinna Dike has an interest in hedge funds. For those with a similar interest, the prospect of starting a hedge fund is often appealing, and it holds the promise of profit.

The first steps generally involved with starting a hedge fund include essentials like…

Creating Your Team – At minimum, you’ll need four people on your team: a chief financial officer, a junior trader and two junior analysts. Look for team members with a keen mind, whom you trust to be loyal and to find opportunities in otherwise-untapped areas. For new hedge fund teams, founders often seek junior-level professionals.

Naming Your Fund – It might not seem important initially, but naming your fund is among the first steps that you should take. You don’t want to convey a ridiculous or overly-aggressive image with your name, and you don’t want to use your own name. This means taking time to choose a respectable name with some sort of meaning to you.

Finding a Firm – Every hedge fund manager needs a high-quality firm to incorporate their fund. Select a respected law firm with experience in dealing with hedge funds. It is wise to shop around to find proper, affordable legal representation.

If you don’t have the financial experience of someone like Citi’s Obinna Dike, consider seeking it from an external source. Mentorships and financial advisors are everywhere, if you put in the effort to find them.

Obinna Dike of Citi - Part Two of Understanding Securities Lending

If you read “Obinna Dike of Citi: Part One of Understanding Securities Lending,” you’re likely eager to get into the meat of it. Now that you understand how those like Citi’s Obinna Dike begin the process, the steps used to profit from and end the exchange are integral to understanding the spirit of securities lending.

After the securities transfer, the following steps typically take place…

Investment of cash collateral typically follows the transfer of security transfer. Any interest collected on cash collateral will be split according to the terms agreement; non-cash collateral is not reinvested.

Daily mark-to-markets are used by the lending agent to adjust the collateral based on the current market value. This ensures that the lender is protected and that the buyer’s collateral adequately covers the loan.

Security return takes place when the lending period ends, after the borrower has used the loan to turn a profit through short selling.

Loan closure is completed when the collateral, including any agreed-upon interest, is returned to the buyer.

Payment of loan earnings is the final step of securities lending. All earnings from the investment, minus the borrower’s rebate from interest, are divided appropriately, determined by the agreed-upon fee split written during the term-negotiation step.

Obinna Dike of Citi is among the millions around the world who are involved in securities lending. If you would like to get started, contact an involved party in your area for more information.

If you missed “Obinna Dike of Citi: Part One of Understanding Securities Lending,” take a peek to understand the five steps that precede the investment of cash collateral.

Obinna Dike of Citi - Securities Lending Explained

Obinna Dike of Citi is one of many professionals who is actively interested in securities lending, which has quietly taken a status akin to hedge funds in the financial industry. Like any element of the financial system, securities lending poses both risks and benefits. Interested professionals such as Citi’s Obinna Dike know this. Through an in-depth understanding of securities lending, these professionals are able to safely navigate the business to bolster their portfolios, and those of their clients, when applicable.

What is Securities Lending?

Securities lending takes place when an investor lends his or her stocks, bonds or other financial interests (securities) to others in the financial market. The largest lenders are typically mutual funds, pension funds and ETFs, or exchange-traded funds. The largest borrowers are typically hedge funds.

Hedge funds and other borrowers use their on-loan securities to their advantage by making short sales. Short selling is the act of selling a security on the assumption that it can later be purchased back for less, resulting in profit.

Collateral

Borrowers are required to pay collateral that is an equal value to the loaned securities. Collateral is balanced with the market each day so that the lender can ensure the on-loan securities are adequately covered by the borrower. If the borrower provides cash collateral, it is typically invested so that it can earn interest; any interest on collateral is split in an agreed-upon manner by lenders and borrowers.

When financially-interested professionals, like Obinna Dike Citi, deal with elements in the financial system, they know that they are taking a risk. The key is to intelligently monitor the market so that risks taken are informed, with high chances of benefitting all parties.