An Exploration on Utilization of Business Analytics in Sri Lankan Banks

In this era of data evangelism, organizations are evolving with a paradigm shift from intuition-driven decision making to evidence-based decision making. Thus, business analytics has become a popular buzzword in modern business. Banking is a lavish industry that generates massive amounts of data and has copious opportunities for the utilization of business analytics to reap its maximum return. Therefore, the significance of business analytics in banking cannot be ignored. Though some international studies have indicated the utilization of business analytics in banks, studies on Sri Lankan banks are quite scarce. To fill this gap, this paper investigates the current utilization of business analytics in the Sri Lankan banking industry. The paper adopted a qualitative approach with multiple case studies, interviewing five professionals from different private commercial banks who are well-versed in business analytics. The paper covers eight aspects of business analytics utilization: duration of use, delegation, beneficiaries, technological aid, essentiality, value realization, perceived usage, and future direction. It was found that most banks have started using business analytics during the last three to four years, mainly for digital banking and card operations with basic technologies such as Power BI and Tableau. Further, it was also found that most banks have realized the importance and potentiality of business analytics, but neither integrated it fully with their core business nor achieved the expected value creation. The paper concludes that Sri Lankan banks are still in the early stages of business analytics maturity. Thus, there is a need to overcome the challenges and implement strategies to leverage business analytics for their benefit. Importantly, this study will contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of business analytics and the Sri Lankan banking industry where related studies are scarce.