(US and Canada) Patrick Issa-Abbas, Head – Retail Banking Data & Analytics, USAA, speaks with Ravi Shankar, Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer, Denodo, about USAA’s business and transformation across the organization.

USAA has been in business for over 90 years. The organization primarily provides insurance products to the military community and is expanding to banking and other life and investment products. Abbas and his team provide data analytics services such as data architecture management, information management, BI solutions delivery, and advanced analytics.

Speaking about the changing data and analytics landscape at USAA, Abbas says that the company deliberately decided to emphasize its growth strategy backed by data and analytics, not only within the bank but also within the company.

He sees an opportunity to accelerate the company’s data and analytics journey by expanding the bank’s products and services, positioning it as one of the company’s key growth factors.

Abbas notes that USAA has spent the last six years building investments and the capability to streamline data capture, strengthen governance, and accelerate the democratization of data analytics.

He says the team executed a strategy to enhance the data architecture, infrastructure, and controls. Currently, the process includes a unified foundation for integration and consumption environments enhanced through an agile framework. The agile framework provides the opportunity to prioritize value-based prioritization and incremental delivery.