Technology plays a crucial role in driving business success in the finance industry. Conventional methods of allocating IT funds, which mainly revolve around upkeep and small-scale enhancements, are no longer adequate.
Financial services firms need to embrace the latest technologies to achieve better business outcomes. This article explores how strategic IT investment, enterprise architecture innovation and advanced technologies such as AI can bring about transformative growth in the financial sector.
Reprioritizing IT investments
Banking and financial organizations must move beyond conservative IT spending focused on maintaining legacy systems to achieve significant business advantages. The key is to shift investments toward innovative technologies with high ROI, requiring a transformation mindset rather than a traditional one. This requires rethinking how IT and business strategies are aligned and executed.
In the financial services sector, fragmented initiatives often lead to a lack of tangible ROI. For example, a Chief Information Officer might lead a digital transformation while the Chief Data Officer pursues separate AI initiatives, diluting the overall impact. Financial institutions should create an integrated, holistic vision with input from all stakeholders.
To showcase tangible ROI, identify and prioritize quick wins and must-do initiatives that showcase immediate value. For example, in our company’s experience implementing AI-enabled customer service platforms, we have saved costs by minimizing reliance on Level 1 operations teams. In addition, we optimized IT asset management for a prominent financial services client, implementing tools such as ServiceNow software and hardware asset management and Integration Hub. This resulted in tangible ROI through substantial cost savings and improved operational efficiency.
Embracing open banking and M&A strategies
Open banking as a growth driver: Open banking APIs facilitate secure and standardized methods for third parties to access financial data with the consumer’s consent. These APIs, categorized as data APIs, transaction APIs and product APIs, provide read-only access to financial data, enable fund transfers and payments and list financial products, respectively. This system reduces IT complexity and simplifies financial transactions. It can also enhance customer engagement by offering more personalized services.
It’s time for banks and financial organizations to embrace open banking, which facilitates innovative features such as account-to-account payments, where payments are made directly from one party’s bank account to the other’s. By 2027, account-to-account payments could surpass $200 billion in volume, with a compound annual growth rate of 19%.
JPMorgan and Mastercard have launched a Pay-by-Bank tool, which leverages open banking to enable secure and efficient bank account-based payments directly from consumers’ bank accounts. This tool illustrates how open banking can streamline financial transactions and enhance user experience.
Strategic M&A for technological advancements: Mergers and acquisitions can accelerate digital transformation by bringing in new technologies and capabilities. Financial institutions should consider M&A not just for market expansion but as a strategy to acquire innovative technologies and talent.
Organizations must divest and invest in M&A ventures to enhance their customer base and digital capabilities, ensuring speed-to-value ROI. For instance, a traditional bank can immediately benefit from acquiring a fintech company specializing in blockchain, enhancing transaction security and efficiency.
As a deal manager for a financial services firm acquiring a global trading platform, I saw how the firm gained a competitive edge by incorporating the trading platform’s robust digital capabilities. Collaborating closely with our practice team and client managing directors, I helped secure a major deal by advancing our M&A service integration capabilities. My contributions included the solution strategy and approach to accelerating the onboarding of applications and ensuring the implementation of rigorous architectural standards, streamlined processes and comprehensive service setups.
This approach facilitated seamless operations and significantly enhanced our client’s M&A journey. Reflecting on my M&A enterprise integration experience, I believe it is crucial to drive each line of business to excellence by leveraging its unique strengths, fostering innovation and aligning with strategic goals. Firms should avoid the common pitfall of treating all lines of business uniformly; instead, they must tailor integration approaches to respect each party’s distinct identities and capabilities.
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Adopting advanced technologies
Technology is a key enabler for optimizing business functions and can help save on costs and boost revenue. Financial planning and analysis is a core finance function that can greatly benefit from technological advancements.
AI is revolutionizing FP&A by automating complex processes, providing predictive insights, enhancing the accuracy and speed of financial reporting and decision-making. Financial firms can use AI to automate budgeting, reduce errors and free up analysts to focus on strategic initiatives, leading to better resource allocation and cost savings.
Another advanced technology banks can consider is digital twins. According to IBM, a digital twin “is a virtual representation of an object or system designed to reflect a physical object accurately.” By using digital twins, banks could simulate scenarios and optimize operations. Firms can create digital twins of core banking systems to test new technologies and regulatory changes in a risk-free environment, ensuring smoother implementations and better compliance.
Financial institutions must focus on resilient growth by leveraging technology to improve operational efficiency and customer engagement. Investing in AI and machine learning can enhance fraud detection and ensure secure transactions. Prioritizing RegTech and cybersecurity safeguards sensitive data and ensures compliance with regulatory requirements. Data analytics helps banks understand consumer demands and provide personalized financial products, increasing loyalty and income. Growth in the competitive financial sector requires customer retention and value-added services.
Establishing a global enterprise architecture framework
A robust enterprise architecture framework supports digital transformation by aligning IT infrastructure with business processes and goals for scalability and flexibility. However, beyond robustness, an EA should be flexible.
Drawing from best practices in frameworks such as TOGAF and Scaled Agile EA, our company’s approach focuses on creating an EA practice that is dynamic and responsive to changes in technology and our business environment.
Integrating AI, blockchain and cloud technologies within the enterprise architecture can provide a scalable and secure platform for financial services, enabling rapid innovation and improved customer service.
Taking a strategic approach
Financial services firms need to be strategic in their IT spending and adopt innovative technologies and strong enterprise architecture to succeed in today’s market. By focusing on these areas, organizations can unlock substantial business value while improving the customer experience. This approach provides a strategic guide for financial institutions to successfully navigate the intricacies of digital transformation and maintain a competitive edge.
