Can you still do your job without using any digital tools? One thing is certain, digitalisation has radically changed the work of every Deals professional. Data analytics is an essential part of this, a trend that makes the work more fun and even more impactful.
Imagine you are an international retail chain. You have been successful for decades and customers know how to find you. But everything around you is changing. The list of online competitors is growing, shopping streets become emptier and corona doesn’t make it any easier. Not so long ago, choosing the right strategy would have been purely on gut instinct. Those days are over, thanks to one of the major innovations of recent times: data analytics.
Data literacy
Data analytics is as exciting as it is interesting. By analyzing large amounts of data you can draw insightful conclusions and make evidence-based decisions. In fact, data analytics isn't even a trend or hype anymore, it's here to stay. Or, as Lilla Nwenu-Msimang, Director at PwC, puts it: “Our clients expect evidence-based mechanisms applied throughout the complete deal cycle for differentiated, deeper insights. Society is moving towards greater data literacy, businesses are producing more and more data from new sources. Accessible technology to harvest insights from that data is developing rapidly.”
"In the newspaper we read about the results of our contribution"
New way of working
Key question: can PwC meet these new customer requirements? The answer is simple. “Absolutely, analytics is a global capability at PwC, our team is often at the forefront of international projects, leading and coordinating across different territories and competencies” says Lilla. “Our diverse team of data scientists is civic-minded and engagement-focused with the ability to apply different data techniques and deliver results to tight deadlines.” But also for Deals professionals, this means a completely new way of working, according to Lilla. “At PwC Deals, our Data Analytics team combines rigorous financial analysis with tech-enabled, granular data analytics, state-of-the-art statistical, optimisation and machine learning algorithms.”
It is time for an example and for that we go back to that retail chain that is so eager to remain successful. “We routinely work with leading European retail and leisure brands. We help them with location growth and optimization, among other things. We use special techniques to achieve this, such as geospatial analysis. We not only provide insight into the shop locations that are strategically most suitable, but also into the optimisation of the product portfolio in this very competitive and challenging market.”
Cutting-edge technology
Working with data analytics is - of course - very valuable for customers. You give them data-based, clear insights with which they can make strategic decisions. But, Lilla emphasizes, working with data analytics is also fun. “At PwC quality is central
to everything we do and has been based on robust quantified analysis for the last decades. We are now leaping ahead by investing in the employees of the future by enabling them with a robust set of cutting-edge data analytics technologies agilely deployed and rapidly scaled. That is very different from the Excel sheets of the past.” Furthermore, as a Deals D&A professional, you will make even more impact. “Our shared purpose at PwC is to ‘to build trust in society and solve important problems'. We work closely with deal makers, supporting decisions that change the fate of companies – so our contribution is both demonstrable and impactful. It is not uncommon to open the newspaper and see the results of our work in the finance section.” It is therefore logical that PwC will continue to focus on data analytics innovations in the future. “It is one of our strategic priorities,” Lilla concludes, “our vision is to apply more and more advanced technologies in every possible stage of the deal cycle.”