Technology – the new normal for financial services firms

According to Deloitte’s 2017 FSI Review, financial services firms are looking to leverage
digital tools and IT to do more and to help them stay relevant into the future. So much so
that the incorporation of these tools into the work these businesses do has become the
“new normal”. In this same review, Yacin Mahieddine, FSI Consulting leader for Deloitte in
Southeast Asia says: “By harnessing the power of disruptive technologies, financial services
firms are boosting their risk management and compliance capabilities, as well as the quality
of service they offer to clients, while dramatically reducing the required time, cost and
effort”.

Based on our experience working with businesses in this field, a little extra research, we’ve
put together a list of six priorities for success in 2020, and beyond. They include:

#1 Discover the “new normal”
All businesses are now tech businesses. For financial services firms, this means that it’s time
to start paying closer attention to their different hardware, software and storage technology
needs. With this in mind, firms must be mindful of where they are when it comes to
technology and digital transformation but also where they want to be in the future.
Investments must be made in solutions that are able to support future growth. One of the
best ways to ensure you’re geared for the “new normal” is by investing in
future-focused strategies and IT infrastructure.

#2 Simplify the old, embrace the new
The financial firms that remain competitive will be those that carefully choose which legacy
systems to decommission and which they plan to integrate with newer technologies. Not
only do cloud-based platforms speed up time to market for financial firms, these tools also
make it possible to automate manual tasks, which reduces costs and frees up your
employees’ time to focus on more important things.

#3 Focus on customer needs
With markets being as cutthroat as they are, customer experience has become the key
differentiator between one business and another. This entails being smarter about how to
communicate with your customers and, also, how to keep your customer happy. Did you
know that over 75% of global banks are allocating budget towards developing a more client-
centric model? The financial institutions that understand their customers more will be those
that guarantee future success.

#4 Pay attention to cyber-security
What we know about cyber attacks is that these crimes are becoming more sophisticated
and financial firms – which hold huge amounts of incredibly holding sensitive data – are an
obvious target. Mitigating these threats entails developing a cyber security roadmap that
prevents exposure and investing in the tools needed to detect and curtail any anomalies that
may put them at risk.

#5 Find the right talent and skills
You can have the best and most-advanced IT systems and strategies in place but if you don’t
have the right people in place to use these systems and strategies, your investments won’t
bear any fruit. Financial services firms must take the time to recruit and hire people with the
skills they need. Where this isn’t possible, they can also consider partnering with
technology-focused consultancies who have the expertise they require.

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