(upbeat music) - [Female Narrator] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music) - [Male Narrator] "Now That's A Good Question with Phil Oldham" was produced under an agreement with Tennessee Tech.

- You can't predict the future, but you can count on Tennessee Tech always putting students first.

Our faculty, staff, and students have shown strengths, compassion, patience and kindness during these trying times.

I'm a college President, and Carrie and I are also the proud parents of a Tennessee Tech student.

We want every student to be treated as we want our own son to be treated.

We understand today's challenges and put the focus on student success.

For us, it's personal.

That's what you can count on at Tennessee tech.

(bright upbeat music) - Hello.

I'm Phil Oldham, President of Tennessee Tech University.

And welcome to "Now That's A Good Question".

A show devoted to exploring the power of asking good questions.

So today we're discussing everyone's favorite topic, and that's money.

To help us with some of those questions, I'm joined today by Dr. Tom Payne, The Dean of the College of Business at Tennessee Tech.

And after the break, I'll be joined by Dr. Edwin Baidoo, the Assistant Professor of business at Tech to discuss the emerging importance of business analytics in today's competitive business environment.

So first let me welcome Dean Tom Payne.

Dr. Payne has been at Tennessee Tech now for I believe six years as a professor of finance and Dean of College of Business.

And I personally find Dean Payne's background to be really interesting and pretty unique.

Actually has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, and worked for several years as an engineer at both Texas Instruments and Rockwell International before going back to Graduate School, earning two degrees in finance.

Prior to coming to Tennessee Tech, he also held the Dunnigan Chair of Excellence in Banking at the University of Tennessee, Martin.

So, Tom, thank you for joining me today and on the program.

It's good to have you here.

- It's great to be here and thank you for having me.

- Yeah, well, this is interesting.

Now, you know, obvious first question, I guess, is how in the world do you get from electrical engineering to finance and being a Dean of a College of Business?

- Well, that is a good question.

And it's an interesting story.

But I think one that is gonna be more and more common to a lot of our students as they prepare for their lives and their careers, I can say that for me, my degree in electrical engineering was transformational.

It gave me a great foundation, prepared me.

It really made me career ready.

And I started out, as you mentioned, as an integrated circuit designer for Texas Instruments.

And as I moved more into business both there, and then with Rockwell International, I began to appreciate how important it was to understand the business of business.

And so for my career, but also to add value to my company, the corporations that I served, I embarked on a master's in business administration.

And with that discovered really finance.

And finance is a quantitative field, a lot of statistics, but interestingly, a lot of behavioral analysis as well.

So it really combined two very interesting things for me.

It was why people do what they do, and why organizations do what they do, and then why or how do those financial decisions fold into that?

How do you optimize things?

How do you make things more efficient?

I knew that I liked research having done some of that at Texas Instruments, and in working in that world.

And I really had the opportunity.

I found out that I liked teaching.

I got to teach a course in frontline supervision when I was with Rockwell.

I think I was the youngest person in the room.

(Thomas laughing) They tolerated me and I enjoyed.

(laughs) I'm a young man, so.

That kind of told me, you know, research and teaching might go forward.

And so those skills, those undergraduate skills that I picked up in engineering carried me forward to the MBA and allowed me in my career to advance that career.

So the professional experience coupled with the educational background, I think was key to all those transformation and really prepared me.

- Yeah.

Well, that's fascinating.

You know, I'm just curious now translating that into the world of business for young business professionals graduates in the College of Business.

It strikes me that there's a lot of change going on in business communities globally.

We have such a global economy now in a lot of ways.

Do you see any parallels between what was going on in electronics maybe back then when you started and what's going on in business today?

- I really do.

And one of the things that inspired me just from my youth was the Apollo program, and all the changes that that brought about.

I see the same thing really today, transforming business with the use of data, much more data intensive.

But, you know, we really haven't lost and we don't need to lose that personal touch as well.

So combining the human side with problem solving on the technological side, very important to have both of those skillsets.

So I see that transformation taking place where we're really dovetailing a lot of the technical skills with the interpersonal skills.

And that's what we hear from our customers.

You know, you've often said Dr. Oldham, that our students are both our product and they're also our customer.

- Yeah.

- And, you know, the other side of that is how do we supply folks to those organizations that are also our customers?

And they're wanting both of those things.

They want technical skills, but they also want people that can work with others, think critically, solve problems, and communicate those solutions.

- So do you think the future is pretty bright for graduates in business today?

- I think it's extremely bright.

- That's good.

- And we hear that from both the students as they go out into internships, we're really big on what we refer to as experiential learning.

Most of our audience will appreciate this from the standpoint of internships, and, you know, those job opportunities and other experiences that they can have while they're in college.

So we really see that as more of a seamless transition from the graduation stage to the workforce.

- Yeah, that's good.

We're still in it, but hopefully we're coming out of this COVID-19 global pandemic.

It's put such significant stress on all of us individually, some financial stress in a lot of cases, but it's certainly also put a lot of financial pressure on any of our financial institutions, you know, that we depend on.

And the one that comes to my mind, community banks.

I mean, maybe it's an area that we sorta take for granted in a lot of ways.

What's the significance of community banks in our world today?

- You know, this crisis, as you mentioned has brought out that importance.

I think perhaps some of those things that we do take for granted in our local community banks, they facilitated a lot of these PPP loans, these paycheck protection through that program.

And in that they facilitated businesses remaining solvent and folks still getting a paycheck.

And then that transition back as we come out of this pandemic and get back to whatever the new normal might be.

As we go back to work, those folks have been sustained financially and otherwise through programs such as that.

But, you know, even larger than that.

And in normal times, they are the engines of providing capital to our communities.

- Yeah.

- And so as financial intermediaries, they are vital to those local communities.

And, as you know President Oldham, spending so much time of yourself in the community, whether it's chambers of commerce, whether it's rotary clubs, civic clubs, whether it's habitat for humanity, the friends of scouting, the list goes on and on.

Those bankers are right in the middle of that and they're participating and they're helping our communities grow through their knowledge and through their capital and their time as people that are genuinely part of the community.

- Is it fair to say that the economic health of a community, particularly maybe a smaller community, can't be very vital without strong banking in that community?

- That is absolutely the case.

And so when we look at different financial institutions, you know, you look at the very large ones.

About half of the assets in America in the banking system are held by about five financial institutions out of about 5,000 that we have today.

So those smaller community banks are so vital to those local communities, and they're the ones that they lived there, their families are there.

They have great relationships with people.

- That sorta brings up the issue of talent here, right?

I mean, you've got these community banks that are so important for local economies, particularly in smaller communities.

Is there an issue with attracting good talent?

- Absolutely.

And this is something that as I speak with bankers and young bankers and senior bankers across our state, that's the one thing that they will be very consistent on.

There's a lot of challenges out there for the banking industry.

There's competition, there's regulation, there's all kinds of challenges that they face.

There's low interest rate.

(laughs) But when you look at their biggest challenge, top to bottom what they say, attracting and retaining good talent.

And that's what we can do at Tech.

- So there's tons of opportunities, I guess, for graduates.

- Yes.

- From what I can tell, it's gotta be very, very challenging, but very successful career path for a lot of young people.

- It is.

And it's one that we need to do a better job, I think as educators, of communicating that to young people, letting them know what those opportunities are, whether they're in customer service, whether they're in IT security, whether they're in operations or lending, including ag lending, there's so many dimensions that they can go into.

And the interesting thing, two things that our industries have in common, our industry being education and the banking industry, is that you have the opportunity to help people.

And that's really a big deal.

Yes, they can be successful financially, but they really do have that opportunity every day to make a difference in somebody's life.

- You're doing some things here in the College of Business.

I think you've helped create a center for community banking.

Tell me a little bit about that.

- We're building in higher ed and particularly at Tech, relevant, what we refer to as stackable credentials.

That is you don't just go to college to do one thing, you pick up another set of skills.

And for the parents out there, you can do all of that within four years.

And then you can have more opportunity as you go on if you choose to go to Graduate School.

So we are a certificate in banking and financial services, certificate in cyber management and analytics, certificates that deal with healthcare, all layered on other majors.

And so you don't have to be a business major, you can be any major and we'll figure out how to weave you in to those opportunities and be career ready and have a great future from there.

- That's a good point because certainly, you need a certain expertise to be successful in banking or any other industry.

But to be well-rounded and have other skills, other knowledge, but social skills and other things as well, is really important, isn't it?

- Absolutely vital.

And, in fact, a great success story recently.

I have a student in one of my classes that kinda bridges that gap between undergrad and grad school.

And he just accepted a job at one of our community banks.

When the bank was considering hiring him, the text message I got wasn't how good is he at finance?

Or how good is he?

They know we do that, at accounting and all these other skills, and we do a great job and we need to in those areas.

But they said, how does he relate to people?

Does he get along with others?

Can he promote our institution?

Is he excited about doing things in his community?

- That's great.

Well, I hope he does well, I'm sure he will.

- I too.

- Tom, thank you for joining me today - Thank you.

- for this segment.

And I appreciate all you're doing here at Tennessee Tech.

After the break, we'll be joined by Dr. Baidoo to talk about data analytics.

(bright upbeat music) Welcome back to "Now That's A Good Question".

I'm really excited to have for this segment, Dr. Edwin Baidoo, Assistant Professor of business here at Tennessee Tech to join me for this segment.

Similar to Dean Payne, Dr. Baidoo didn't start out studying business.

He actually earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics before going back to Graduate School and earning degrees in finance and data analytics.

Welcome Edwin, and thank you for being with me today.

- Sure.

Thank you so much for having me.

- That's good.

Good to have a chance to chat with you.

And I guess the first question, the obvious question is, what in the world is business analytics and why should anybody care?

- I think that's a great question.

So business analytics is the combination of using data and a little bit of mathematics to solve business problems.

In the past, what we don't have, well, at least what we didn't have in the past was that right now we have an influx of data.

So businesses are really catching on to say, what can we use to get a leg up?

And business analytics it's like the package where we combined the mathematics, computer science, and some business acumen to solve business problems.

- It sounds really complicated.

Is it that complicated or?

- So it's a yes or no thing.

If you have the business sense, you should be able to follow through.

But, of course, with everything, there's always the people of the background who are doing the technical work.

So for those people who are doing the technical work, I wouldn't think that it's complicated for them.

What really matters is the type of problems that we're trying to solve.

If it's a complicated problems, we break it into part.

We tackle it from different sources and we solve it.

- Yeah.

With a mathematics background, I'm guessing maybe that helps in a situation like that to have some math background.

- Oh, yeah.

- So is it sort of applied mathematics applied to a business setting?

Is it?

- Most definitely.

You can tackle it from saying that maybe it's applied mathematics or applied statistics, but whatever way that you choose, the math background definitely helps.

So if you have some kind of quantitative background, that sort of thing helps.

At the same time too, I mean, the business analytics, you can think of it as a spectrum and everybody falls in within some space.

So depending on where you are, we can still plug you in to do something.

- There's a lot of skillsets that are needed.

- Exactly.

- So even though math background may be helpful, it's not necessary, is it?

- Well, I wouldn't say it's not necessary, but the ability for you to understand what is going on.

We have some people who just are able to catch on very quickly, and then we have other people whom they catch on, but you have to explain it to others to be able to follow.

And if you're able to catch on, I believe you should be okay.

- Just from a normal person's perspective, I mean, I'm fascinated now by the fact that, companies like Amazon or Walmart or whoever seem to know what I want before I even know what I want.

- (laughs) Yes.

- So how do they do that?

Is that a business analytics thing?

- Oh, yes.

Most definitely.

I mean, right now, so with the kind of technology that we have and with the kind of society that we have, we are all sharing something, whether you know it or not.

So for example, you could go on YouTube and the fact that you disliked something, whether you know it or not, you've given access or you've given information that's very pertinent.

So now we know that your dislike it, so we can kind of chug it in with the folks in the back and we can recommend something that you like.

It doesn't have to be just Amazon.

It could be on Netflix, it could be movies.

So it could be virtually anything where we can recommend something to you.

The general term is recommender systems.

So when you go on Amazon and you click something, you come back and you say, well, users that purchase this also did this, and that's quite interesting that there is some amount of mathematics that go behind the scene to be able to recommend that.

But obviously even one with the math, we need others to market that product.

So everybody falls into some kind of spectrum.

- I guess, to some extent it may be a little scary to some people that there's that much known about them just based on their behavior pattern.

- Oh, of course.

- As a consumer, is that something we should be concerned about or?

- Oh, no.

So the thing also about that data analytics and business analytics in general is that, right now there's also a field in law where lawyers are really looking into data ethics and that sort of thing.

So there's always that tug.

And I believe for users in general, you have your rights to be able to question something, that's true.

But also I think that's also the dynamics between the business and yourself.

If you use a business platform, are you given consent for them to do what you want?

So that dynamics is there, but in general, the feeling of them using your information to do something nefarious, for now, there's a question mark on it.

People are studying them, but there's a question mark on it.

- And the way you describe it, and the way I kind of think of it is there's this sort of big data set in the sky somewhere.

- Yes.

- And the analytics professional has the skills to mine that data to gain access for the company for some business related reasons.

Does that make sense?

- Oh, yeah.

That is exactly that on a way that we all can understand.

You have the data and every business have what you call like a database or data warehouse where they're storing all of that stuff.

And eventually the time will come where they say, well, how can we use this to better market ourselves, better distinguish our brand and so forth and so on.

So it plays into that.

Yes.

- So does every company sorta had developed their own data set or can you purchase these from other companies?

Is there a whole network of opportunities for data?

- (laughs) Oh, yeah.

Most definitely.

I mean, that goes in two ways.

There are companies out there that specialize in getting data for you to use.

So for example, the first thing that comes to my mind is Equifax and all those major three credit bureaus.

So, for example, you get like Credit Karma and all those kinds of stuff, they have to get the data from Equifax.

So in some sense, Equifax is supplying the data to them.

And then also Equifax and others also have programs where they can give data to researchers.

We have to purchase them.

So it's out there.

However, I have to also say this with a caveat that if you are a researcher trying to get the data, they have to strip away the non identifiable aspects of it, so they can't identify who you are.

- Okay.

- So that's the good thing.

They just simply use it for research purposes.

- So your identity is protected.

- Exactly.

Yes.

- Well, that's good to know.

(Edwin laughs) So there's the mathematical aspect of this, but it seems like there's also sort of a human behavior.

Maybe even a psychology component to it.

Is that the case?

- Oh, of course.

Of course.

Because eventually at the end of it what you wanna do is to create what's called a data product, and what's the use of having a data product if there is no consumer to consume it?

So whatever it is that you're able to create, we need to find a way to get the psychology out there and to get people to use it, without that it's just not going to work.

So there's a whole bunch of psychology behind all of that kind of stuff.

And again, that also plays into marketing, finance.

So it's a big thing.

And everybody gets a piece of the pie.

- Yeah.

This has been a trend for quite a while anyway.

- Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

- But with the pandemic and the businesses having to change operational modes and that kind of thing because of the pandemic, do you see an acceleration in this trend over this time period?

- Oh, yeah.

So back in the 70's or the 80's or so, when the oil boom was there, everybody saw the need for oil.

And I think right now what people say is that data is the new oil.

So you can imagine if data is the new oil, there's the competition and then there is the need to create something like that.

The pandemic really what it did is that, it brought us in a way where it's like a sharp turn, where nobody really knew what was going to happen, but here we are, we all find ourselves.

So what I foresee is a lot of companies trying to use data to predict when something like this will ever happen again.

It happened, of course, with the last recession where nobody really foresaw that coming, but with data, that is one of those things that I believe companies would try to kind of make out for.

So those kinds of stuff, they are definitely out there.

And I believe it's just gonna go up and up.

Even in the research right now, the hottest research topics would be anything with COVID-19 in it.

So once you have the COVID-19 data, you're ready to go.

- Talent is what drives this.

I mean, it's one thing to have data available, but you really have to have talented professionals that know what to do with those data.

Is that?

- Oh, yeah.

Most definitely.

As a matter of fact, that's like a of war between the companies and between the people who are out there.

Initially when this data science stuff came about, the biggest problem that the companies were getting to us was, well, we don't have enough people, trained people to do this stuff.

And to some degree that's still out there.

And that's why at least for the last five years or so, a lot of universities have been trying to produce that talent.

And they're doing a good job of doing that, but you're right.

We need the talent to be able to do something like this.

- And I guess, is particularly for students in high school, younger students, they're probably not aware of this.

Right?

I mean, this is not something that it's been a role model for them.

How do you introduce this to a new group of students in a way that says, wow, that's an opportunity?

- Yeah.

So that's a great question.

And what happens is that typically, for anything you need the basic building blocks.

And if you want to introduce something like that to high school student, number one, just like anything, you need to show them the finished product.

So for example, hey, this is a recommender system.

This is what we're doing.

And this is what goes on into Amazon when you purchase anything, right?

And then what you want to inculcate is the tools that you need to do it.

So you need, obviously, some quantitative acumen, you need some programming skills a little bit.

And what I'm seeing is that high schools these days are equipping students to do that kind of thing to equip them.

Yes.

- Well, that's great.

Well, it's clearly some great opportunities for students and I know you're doing a great job in introducing that to our students - All right, thanks.

- here at Tennessee Tech.

- Yes.

- So I want to thank you for being with us today.

I want to thank Dean Payne as well for being with us, and certainly thank the viewers for tuning in today.

A really interesting discussion about something we're all interested and that's money.

But until next time, wings up and keep asking good questions.

(bright upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Male Narrator] "Now That's A Good Question with Phil Oldham" was produced under an agreement with Tennessee Tech.

- You can't predict the future, but you can count on Tennessee Tech always putting students first.

Our faculty, staff, and students have shown strengths, compassion, patience, and kindness during these trying times.

I'm a college President, and Carrie and I are also the proud parents of a Tennessee Tech student.

We want every student to be treated as we want our own son to be treated.

We understand today's challenges and put the focus on student success.

For us, it's personal.

That's what you can count on at Tennessee Tech.

(upbeat music) - [Female Narrator] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music)