Impact of data analytics capabilities on customer-centric approaches in South African retail banks

Abstract

In recent years, the banking sector has undergone a significant transformation due to rapid digital advancement and shifting customer expectations and needs. Many banks, however, are failing to achieve customer-centric outcomes because they struggle to translate their data analytics capabilities into a value-creating customer experience. The main objective of this qualitative study is to explore how data analytics capabilities impact customer-centric strategies in the South African retail banking sector. Qualitative exploratory methodology was used to guide the study, following an interpretivism philosophy, which employed a non-probability purposive sampling method. The study used in-depth semi-structured interviews with industry professionals and inductive thematic analysis guided by dynamic capabilities theory. The findings reveal that analytics significantly impacts how banks understand their customers, their engagement strategies, and their responses to customers' changing needs, although maturity remains uneven. The findings of the study show that the data analytics capabilities have the ability to enhance personalization, satisfaction, trust, loyalty, and competitive advantage. To realize this potential, banks require a holistic organizational transformation that includes capability activation, governance, cross-functional collaboration, leadership alignment, and outcomes measurement. South African retail banks, therefore, need to move beyond infrastructure investment toward institution-wide analytical enablement to realize genuine customer-centric value.