Company: Cal (Israel Credit Cards)
Industry: Finance
Time working together: 5 years
Company
Cal is a credit and debit card company operating in Israel, founded by Discount Bank and Leumi Bank, and currently owned by Discount Bank and First International Bank of Israel. Cal issues and clears leading global brand credit cards: Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club (marketed exclusively by Cal) and provides non-bank credit to its customers. Since 2012, the company also clears IsraCard. Cal employs over 1,500 employees in its Givatayim, Ashdod and Modi’in Illit offices, who provide financial solutions and professionally service over 2 million cardholders and tens of thousands of businesses.
Challenge
Back in 2017, Ittay Hazan was tasked with creating a data department from scratch for one of Israel’s prominent credit card companies, Cal. Back then, Cal was using data as a “nice to have” asset, and Hazan, its CDO had the vision of turning the finance company into a data driven organization. It was not a small task and the CDO felt like the first year would have to generate quick wins in order to justify the faith that executives put in the new department and create real credibility. He got proposals from BLeader, along with 3 of the top globally-leading consulting firms’ data units. “At the end of the day, BLeader was the clear choice. I was looking for consultants who will be there with us beyond the buzzwords – and actually help us with implementation. It had to be a firm that is practical, results-oriented and has the skills to work alongside the most junior analysts – while discussing strategy with top Finance executives.”
Results
In 5 years, Hazan went from a department of 2 people – to a vibrant department of over 20 team members. But it’s not just the headcount. “Cal is now a truly data-driven organization where no key decision is made without first consulting with the data department. We went from ‘nice to have’ to having a significant seat at the table.”
The partnership with BLeader started from the very foundations: Defining and outlining the data focus for Cal across marketing, sales, support, operations etc – and prioritizing it. Next, the BLeader team helped the CDO build Cal’s OS for data with models and predictions, and implement them into marketing and sales. Within 18 months, they were able to double their sales performance thanks to data.
Top Value Adds
- Marrying strategy with a practical approach, designing the organizational processes in a sustainable, hands-on manner
- Communicating the importance of data and providing guidance across the organization – from junior analysts to top executives
- Leveraging the wealth of data that Finance companies have for quick wins as well as long term results
From an organization where data was nice to have, we became a fully data-driven organization. No key decision is made without first involving data, and the data department has a significant seat at the table. At the end of the day, BLeader was the clear choice. I was looking for consultants who will be there with us beyond the buzzwords - and actually help us with implementation. It had to be a firm that is practical, results-oriented and has the skills to work alongside the most junior analysts - while discussing strategy with top Finance executives.
Ittay Hazan
Former Chief Data & Digital Officer at Cal
