Hellenic Bank transforms market analysis using Power BI, offering business customers unmatched insights

Paying with cash is gradually becoming a thing of the past. In fact, a study by the European Central Bank (ECB) found that only 59 percent of transactions were made in cash in 2022, compared to 79 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, card payments have been increasing steadily. From only 19 percent in 2016, card payments now account for 34 percent of all transactions. These card transactions generate a wealth of data that can help businesses take a glimpse into the spending habits of their consumers. Unfortunately, these datasets often go unused.

Hellenic Bank, which started in 1976 and now operates around 50 branches, has always strived to adopt digital tools to make banking better for its customers. A few years back, the bank was quick to identify the changing trends and capitalize on opportunities. "We recognized the value of data analytics," recalls Dimitris Koniotis, Chief Data Officer at Hellenic Bank. “So, we set up a centralized Data & Analytics team to focus on using data to improve operations and decision making inside the bank and create value for our customers.”

Identifying a blind spot

Hellenic Bank soon identified a significant market gap: many companies know their own sales figures but have limited information on how they benchmark against competitors. They also don’t have good visibility on how they perform in specific demographics and geographies. "What they don't know is how much consumers shop with peers when they don't shop with them," adds Koniotis. “There is no rich information available for businesses to benchmark their performance against others in the industry at a micro level. Companies typically rely on surveys that poll a limited number of people about their intentions and preferences. These traditional methods provide insights but have limitations.” Hellenic Bank set out to fill the knowledge gap.

When searching for a suitable technology stack for this endeavor, the bank settled its sights on its long-term partner—Microsoft. In 2017, the bank adopted Microsoft 365 tools like SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams to create a more productive workplace, empowering over 2,000 employees. It adopted a cloud-first approach for its mobile banking application, selecting Microsoft Azure as the foundation. With this, the bank gained the flexibility to customize solutions and work with top-tier vendors.

“Throughout our digital transformation journey, we were always supported by Microsoft in terms of optimizing the use of these solutions and addressing security concerns. This included keeping us in the loop on what's new and available. So, when we decided to adopt a data-driven banking culture we introduced Power BI as a key enabler,” says Koniotis.

“The Commercial Intelligence is a valuable tool, tailored for our business customers, aiming to support their decision-making and to help them grow their business. We invest in Data Analytics and Technology, in order to become more Intelligent enterprises and be able to tailor our offering according to the individual needs of our customers, in a customized and personalized manner, whilst optimizing our own internal decisioning processes,” says Phivos Stasopoulos, Chief Banking Officer.  “We have placed the customer at the center of everything and the result through this kind of tools is an upgraded customer’s experience.”

Shedding light on actions, not just intentions

Initially, Hellenic Bank used Power BI for internal reporting, but it soon realized the potential for broader applications. “We were already doing all this analysis for internal purposes to support our decision-making and strategy. With a customer-first approach in mind, we thought about how we could leverage what we were already doing to support our customers too,” adds Koniotis.

Bringing together Power BI data, Hellenic Bank designed the Commercial Intelligence tool, a solution that enables the bank’s customers to gauge their business performance and market positioning. “For example, a supermarket may know that a specific customer spent €20 with them, but they don't know that the customer also spent €80 in other supermarkets,” Koniotis explains. “With the Commercial Intelligence tool, a business can see how their market shares are evolving across various demographics and locations with interactive dashboards in Power BI. They also get insights on their customers’ engagement and share of wallet. Such important metrics are typically not available to a business, as their estimation requires knowledge about the spending of customers outside their company, which they don’t have. To develop the tool, we analyze around three million card transactions every month from more than 250,000 active consumers. Our market intelligence suggests that more than 60% of transactions at the Point of Sale for retailers are executed with cards and the trend is increasing. Instead of intentions sourced from customer surveys, our business customers benefit from powerful insights based on actual consumer spending. Using Power BI, we develop insights, analyses, and research for multiple purposes.”

Information security, including data anonymization, data aggregation and securing customer login information, were key. “The challenge was to create a robust data model that was compliant, yet to provide seamless access for external users,” explains Andri Antoniou, Associate Manager, Business Intelligence at Hellenic Bank. “Thankfully, Power BI set up is very easy to deploy as it's a ready solution. Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) made it easy to publish reports on the cloud and provide secure access to verified business customers using Multi Factor Authentication. The Microsoft team supported us in this journey.”

Effortless market insights at scale

The Commercial Intelligence tool is tailored for business customers in sectors like groceries, fashion, consumer electronics and furniture. "We cover around 35 percent of the local market in terms of card spending which means we have a very good view of the market activity," notes Koniotis. "Each year, we see more card transactions, which implies that tools like ours are becoming more holistic in capturing market trends."

Hellenic Bank’s customers immediately saw the benefits of using the tool. A leading fashion merchant praised the tool, saying, "The tool's accurate market share tracking has allowed us to monitor our company's performance relative to competitors on a monthly basis. Understanding your customers’ behavior is invaluable in today's ever-changing market."

The tool’s intuitive interface and features made tracking market trends effortless for Hellenic Bank’s customers. The fashion merchant further added, "The outstanding customer support provided by the Hellenic Bank team ensures seamless user experience.”

For Koniotis, a crucial component of this success is a flexible, scalable technology environment. “Power BI is the leading BI tool in the market. Using standard app creation software, we would never be able to provide such granular insights in a convenient format to our business customers so quickly," he sums up. By investing in our transformation, we bring powerful benefits and unique value propositions to our customers with the ultimate aim being to enable better and more informed decision making.”