Source: enterprisetimes.co.uk
NTT Data has been signed up by Legal & General (L&G) to help the latter build out its data science capabilities. L&G wants to use data science to help develop and improve the delivery of products and services to its 13 million customers. Among the areas it is looking to improve are investment management, pensions, annuities, and life assurance.
Simon Williams, CEO at NTT DATA UK, said: “Our partnership with Legal & General is about being a catalyst for change. We worked closely with Peter and his team to help them create an environment that challenged internal perceptions of data and opened their eyes to the art of the possible.
“Together, we have created a positive environment that not just delivers innovative projects but empowers people to think differently and encourages them to create new, fantastic services for their customers.”
Three primary workstreams
The key to this deal is how to democratise the vast amount of data that L&G currently holds. NTT Data is helping make that data easily accessible to staff and providing them with the tools to use it.
As part of that, the two companies created the Data Science Launchpad. It consists of three primary workstreams:
- The training workstream: A six-week bootcamp for L&G employees to give them insights into data science and was designed to help them understand how it could be used in their business units.
- The prototyping workstream: This created and delivered data science prototypes to qualify business opportunities for data science. This is the first step in delivering value to the business.
- The tools workstream: A project to build tools and practical knowledge to support the internal data science community.
It was launched earlier this year to 110 stakeholders across L&G.
What is not clear is how well the workstreams have worked during lockdown. There is no reason that all of this could not have been delivered through the cloud. However, the press release does not indicate what has happened since the Data Science Launchpad was presented to those internal stakeholders.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
Organisations are drowning in data. They are spending millions on just storing it and millions more in trying to understand it. The challenge here for L&G and NTT Data will be creating viable metrics to judge the Data Science Launchpad by.
Will those be based on new revenue? Will it be the speed with which new products are brought to market? How will they determine that the development of new products through the launchpad would not have occurred without it? This latter question is the most tricky. Answering it accurately will show the real value of this deal between the two companies.
The biggest gainers in this, however, should be the L&G shareholders. If this delivers new products that the 13 million customers want and stops them shopping around, then it will have done its job.