Canadian HR Reporter

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK Credit: logoboom/McIek (Shutterstock) Digging into big data What can organizations learn from RBC's data analytics journey? BY LIZ BERNIER In an organization with more than 70,000 employees, there's cer- tainly no shortage of data — the challenge is what to do with it. For RBC, that challenge has mani- fested in a data analytics journey that's been a collective effort from a lot of people, according to Rob- ert Carlyle, director of strategic workforce management at RBC in Toronto. But there's really no better time to reinvent the use of data within organizations, said Carlyle. "ere's really three underlying trends that make this a great time to be reinventing people manage- ment and use of data. e first is really a larger conception around the analytical enterprise, and re- ally analytics are how we're chang- ing the way how all organizations manage themselves," he said at a Strategic Capability Network event in Toronto. Some organizations are focused on collecting and using their own data internally, while others are turning to external research — and there's no one way, he said. "It can be with your own data, it can be with external research… (but) really that evidence-based people management is a com- ing trend, not just to use your own data, but to use findings that other people have where they're credible and applicable to your organization." Big data is no longer just some- thing that's nice to have — it's becoming the business standard, said Carlyle. "We need to start to look at ana- lytics as the way we do business — not as a series of projects. ere's a tendency in the past where, if we've got a problem, we'll bring an analyst in to look at it. And it's more of a project-based start and stop. ere are a number of rea- sons that's not the best approach to continue on." People matter Another important driver is that the value of people to an organi- zation in terms of the creation of value is much higher than it's been in the past, said Carlyle. We currently are in the fourth industrial revolution, according to the World Economic Forum, which means not only are skills changing, but the value of people within organizations is changing as well, said Carlyle. "What we're seeing, and we're seeing it certainly in financial services, is that routine work is becoming more and more auto- mated. Customers, clients can interact with people in different ways; the routine work becomes available on a mobile phone. You don't even need to go into a physi- cal premise," he said. "What happens is that people are there for issue resolution, they're there for the complex, they're there to provide advice, guidance, develop new product or to create these incredibly so- phisticated automated systems. And with that, it's more and more important that we have the right people in (the right roles)." ese are higher skill sets, more complex skill sets, and the devel- opment timelines are higher, he said. "So how do we plan for this, giv- en that people are more and more the drivers of value? We can't rely on physical capital or financial capital, but intellectual or human capital is really the primary driver of organizational value." e third — and maybe most technical — driver of why this is an important journey is that people data and people analytics are actually cost-effective, said Carlyle. "Relative to the value, which is going up, the cost is actually going down," he said. "Storing data has become ridiculously inexpensive. We're in the process of building a data warehouse, and we built a small facility, and we do get some scale efficiencies at RBC — I won't deny that. But we're looking at putting five years of every piece of people data we've got together." The average observer might imagine this would be an enor- mous expense — but it will actual- ly end up costing RBC about $120 a month in total, he said. However, there is still the collection of data and other costs. RBC's journey So, with those trends in mind, how did RBC go about implementing its capital analytics journey? ere were three key compo- nents: leadership support, infra- structure investment in people, technology and process, and improved decision-making, said Carlyle. "As the infrastructure invest- ment builds up, you need to im- prove the decision-making and give proof back to the leaders that there (are results)," he said. RBC had to fit its analytics across a number of different busi- nesses in different countries, all with different staring points. Each unit was in a different place in terms of not only HR's role with the business, but also in terms of the views around how people should be managed, so that had to be taken into consid- eration, said Carlyle. There are also a number of areas to consider when making decisions around collecting data. For instance, one area is around reporting routines — should they be more ad hoc or more system- atic? said Carlyle. Another area to consider is around data aggregation. "We made a decision fairly early that we want to be fully consoli- dated in terms of (data aggrega- tion). ere's a number of reasons for that that aren't necessarily ob- vious. e first is that it's ultimate- ly cheaper in the long run, and that matters. But the deep analyt- ics are often less interesting than connecting different data sources together," he said. For instance, RBC is in the pro- cess of combining employee data points with customer data points around loyalty and likelihood of recommending the organization (called net promoter scores). It is combining that with em- ployee data, engagement scores, environment, demographics, management information and more. "We didn't need enormous reams of data, we weren't using real-time data analytics… these were fairly basic employee data that most organizations would have. But you put those together and some real magic can be had, so we can actually direct manag- ers on the front lines," he said. And while it's still early in the process, RBC has already been able to see an impact on customer loyalty, said Carlyle. "ere are a few branches that have these (changes) in place, and they are outperforming other branches materially." "Intellectual or human capital is really the prime driver of organizational value."

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