The challenge
A UK financial services firm was struggling to turn its data into timely decisions. Information sat in separate systems across finance, risk and customer operations, and much of the monthly reporting relied on spreadsheets assembled by hand.
As a regulated business, the firm also needed to demonstrate clear data lineage and strong controls over how information was used. Its leadership team highlighted several problems:
- Reports took days to prepare and were often out of date by the time they were read
- Different teams produced conflicting figures for the same measures
- Analysts spent most of their time preparing data rather than analysing it
- There was no secure, governed foundation for introducing AI and machine learning
Our approach
We worked with the firm’s data, risk and technology teams to define a target architecture and a practical delivery plan, focused on early, visible value.
Our work included:
- A modern cloud data platform bringing core data sources together in a single, governed environment
- Automated data pipelines with built-in quality checks, replacing manual extracts and spreadsheet processes
- A shared semantic layer so that key measures are defined once and used consistently across the business
- Governance by design, including role-based access, lineage tracking and audit trails to support regulatory obligations
- AI-driven analytics, including forecasting models and anomaly detection to highlight emerging trends and exceptions
- Intelligent automation of routine reconciliation and reporting tasks
Every model was developed with explainability and human oversight in mind, and we established clear processes for monitoring model performance over time.
The outcome
The firm now has a trusted, well-governed data foundation and the tools to act on insight quickly.
- Time spent on manual reporting fell by around 70%
- Business users can access trusted insights five times faster through self-service dashboards
- Forecast accuracy improved by around 25%, supporting better planning and capital decisions
- A single source of truth has removed debate over conflicting figures
Analysts now spend their time on higher-value work, and the firm has a secure platform on which to scale its use of AI responsibly.
