BENGALURU: Financial institutions will count on technology more than ever in 2015 to handle the increasing complexities of business with a minimum staff, to satisfy customers' need for convenience and to abide by increasingly complex regulatory rules. Big data is about answering big questions, and some of the biggest questions are being asked by financial services, according to ingrammicroadvisor.com.

Better Operational Efficiency:

As with every kind of business, using big data in financial services can improve operating efficiency. Big data can be used to conduct various operational analyses, from determining optimal staffing for a customer call center to determining which branch banks offer the most profit potential. Big data analytics makes it possible to break down data siloes and provide a comprehensive, holistic picture of operations.

Mobile Payments Explosion:

Apple Pay's mobile wallet was introduced in the fourth quarter of 2014 and is expected to gain significant traction in 2015. Others, including Samsung and CurrentC, a mobile payments solution from a retailers' consortium, will debut later this year, giving further fuel to the mobile payments fire. Forrester Research declared 2015 "the year of Apple Pay" in one of its reports. Capgemini's 2014 World Payments Report predicts that mobile payments will grow 60.8 percent in 2015.

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