A few years ago, digital transformation in the financial industry was all about getting on the cloud.
Now that cloud-based services are the norm, the focus of digital transformation is changing.
Today, most companies in the financial industry want to be able to use the cloud better. They also want to protect themselves from growing cybercrime. And they want to meet the unique challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These are the major trends driving digital transformation in the financial sector:
Digital transformation in the financial sector – major trends
1) Legacy systems are finally fading
Almost every company in the modern financial sector recognises – at least internally – that the legacy systems of yesteryear are a major barrier to a modern business’s productivity.
Most legacy systems keep data in separate silos and don’t play well (integrate) with others. They also tend to be much more expensive to maintain.
Plus, they make it more difficult to be flexible in the way you deliver your services. This often prevents businesses from delivering the kind of experience that modern consumers increasingly expect.
Those organisations that haven’t yet made the move to cloud-based systems are starting to face increasing pressure to do so – often from their own employees and decision-makers with an eye on the future.
2) Consumers expect firms to be digital
The success of so many fintech and non-traditional banking firms shows the huge demand for digitalisation in the financial industry. There is also a high level of consumer awareness that they have data that needs to be protected.
Cloud-based systems allow financial firms to succeed in both regards. By giving you the tools you need to leverage as well as protect your customers’ data, these systems also make it possible to create a personalised customer journey that is free from obstacles.
These systems are used increasingly across the financial sector, enabling firms to:
- Analyse data – PowerBI and other tools let you analyse data trends to predict consumer needs and improve workflows.
- Support customers – using bots and other tools to quickly respond to queries.
- Protect data – cloud-based tools often offer greater security for customer data compared to legacy systems.
3) Cybercrime and fraud prevention
One of the biggest trends in recent years is the growing sophistication and prevalence of hacker attacks and fraud directed against the financial industry.
The industry spends billions of pounds every year merely on cybersecurity measure compliance fines. The cost of actual breaches is much, much higher – and often extend far beyond the immediate financial cost of correcting the issue.
The fact that cybercrime is an ever-changing and growing factor that only ever ramps up in complexity means that financial organisations need a solution that will scale over time. This usually involves:
- Real-time monitoring of your systems – usually accomplished in coordination with your in-house IT team or Managed Service Provider and SaaS (Software as a Service) or IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) providers.
- Improved fraud detection and screening – both in the form of training for your team so that they are up-to-date on the latest cybercrime trends as well as other methods of screening customer support, mobile, and web channels.
How to get ahead of the transformation curve
If you feel that your organisation is in danger of being behind the curve of digital transformation in the financial industry, there are some sensible steps to get back on track:
1) Have a plan (for a crisis)
What would you do in the event of a data breach or fraud attempt if it happened tomorrow?
Developing an incident response plan or breach response plan ensures you know. Not only what you would do, but what everyone in your organisation and outside it should be doing.
Your Managed Service Provider should be able to help you with this. For instance, Dial A Geek regularly works with our clients to develop a plan that details how to respond to and recover from a crisis.
2) Have a plan (for the future)
You know where you want to be with your organisation’s use of technology. But how are you going to get there?
An IT roadmap will be a key part of your strategy. A roadmap assesses your current state of technology use, outlines your goals, and lays out a series of sensible steps to get you between A and B. A roadmap is a vital part of most of the managed services we provide.
With more and more firms in the financial industry taking proactive steps to maximise and leverage their use of IT, now is the time to take action of your own if you don’t want to be left behind.
Not sure where to start your digital transformation?
Let’s talk. Dial A Geek has helped businesses in the financial industry and many other sectors besides get what they need from their IT.
Set up a commitment-free consultation with Chief Geek Gildas Jones today. Let’s work through how your transformation could happen – without disrupting your operations.
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