By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

AN accounting firm yesterday launched a Centre for Excellence to boost the Bahamas' reliance on data and anlaytics to drive evidence-based decision-making.

Dennis Deveaux, KPMG (Bahamas) head of management consulting and data and analytics, said the firm's Lighthouse concept - now being introduced in this nation - provides specialised talent and high-capacity delivery centres, using data and analytics, to help clients achieve rapid results.

"The purpose of the launch is really to introduce some of the tools that help organisations in the public and private sectors make better decisions," he said. "We believe that data is a core part of that. We hope that data and analytics is more than just something KPMG does because, ultimately, data-based decision making helps the Bahamas, and causes for all our tax dollars to be more efficiently spent."

Mr Deveaux added: "As a nation our decision-making process is often-times informed by personal beliefs, instincts and experience, and while these things aren't bad the key thing we are missing out on as a country is the cultural reliance on information to make decisions."

Mr Deveaux said the KPMG Lighthouse concept, though new to the Bahamas, has been used by firms throughout the world.

"We have several clients in the public sector space that we were actively advising, even in advance of the launch, and then in the private sector space there are some discussions we are having with retailers. There is one large retailer that want to look at how they make credit decisions," said Mr Deveaux.