Unveiling the Big Data Adoption in Banks: Strategizing the Implementation of a New Technology

The purpose of this study is to understand the process managers inside the organization from the point they became aware of the relevance of big data for their businesses and how they create conditions for it to be incorporated to the bank’s corporative strategy.

Abstract

This study describes the process of big data adoption in three major Brazilian banks and unveils the process of implementing a new technology platform in a "pluralistic context". Besides requiring huge investments, big data implementation also demands an articulation between the many centers of power within the bank and a redefinition of concepts once dominant in the organization. The four moments of the translation model proposed by the Actor-Network Theory—problematization, interessment, enrolment and mobilization—are used as elements for describing and understanding the big data adoption journey. A cross-case analysis unveils a similar model for incorporating big data in the three studied banks. Initially brought into the bank by a small group of pioneers, the new concept of big data is explored by study groups created to amplify knowledge about the concept and related technologies. These pioneer groups then start working on connecting with other business areas, on the path to consolidate the need of big data in the bank. Thus the purpose of this study is to understand the process managers inside the organization from the point they became aware of the relevance of big data for their businesses and how they create conditions for it to be incorporated to the bank's corporative strategy.