Keeping up with the speed of technology remains an ongoing challenge for financial and professional service organizations. The moment ideas or applications once deemed intimidating become second nature and find their place in a company’s arsenal, new technology emerges to shake things up, leaving decision-makers questioning their ability to match pace.
In this report, insight from management level professionals and decision-makers across the banking, insurance, wealth management and mortgage industries provides a framework to help organizations understand if they are putting the right practices in place and using technology effectively to achieve the best outcomes.
Are your people and processes future-proof? And what do you stand to lose if they aren’t?
Key findings
⦁ Customer satisfaction ranks high on the list of priorities for organizations in the midst of developing digital transformation strategies, with customer experience, support and access identified as key drivers.
⦁ Regardless of the industry, feelings related to progress are largely divided in two, with half of the respondents believing their digital transformation plans are still in the early stages and half believing that they are already successfully implementing transformation initiatives throughout their organizations. Wealth managers are the most sheepish when it comes to the maturity level of their digital transformations, while the insurance industry is the most confident.
⦁ Despite understanding how valuable leveraging technology is to achieving success, most respondents are either working to keep up with the pack or lagging behind. Less than a third of all respondents consider themselves to be leaders in the use of technology.
⦁ Having a fully defined strategy — which includes steps such as assigning responsibility for achieving certain goals and having metrics in place to measure success — is considered the most important driver impacting an effective leveraging of technology for digital transformation.
⦁ Organizations considered leaders in the space stand out by empowering employees and allowing them to play an active role in the organization’s transformation strategy. Respondents see a strong correlation between spending and success, with organizations who have made commitments to increase technology funding both now and in the future experiencing more positive outcomes.
⦁ Merging new technology with existing systems is the top challenge for respondents looking to advance transformation initiatives at their organizations. But challenges related to customer knowledge, reliance on vendors and availability of skilled staff must be overcome as well.
⦁ Leaders are able to separate themselves from the pack by having greater confidence in their digital transformation strategies and a greater willingness to adopt new tech as it emerges.
⦁ Technology that improves efficiency in the ongoing era of remote work is seen as high value across all industries.