More Tech Skills Needed for Digital Transformation in Finance

Data management initiatives in the finance sector, such as data collection, integration, and automation, are being constrained by a severe lack of digital skills and maturity. This is the overall feeling amongst up to two-thirds of technical decision makers, surveyed for a new report from Encompass Corporation, the provider of intelligently automated corporate Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions.

The report, conducted via independent polling agency, Pulse, analysed responses from 100 technical decision makers across EMEA and North American territories.

Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of technical decision makers feel their organisations lack the skilled technical resources to integrate external data into core platforms, and, the vast majority (57 per cent) believe they are only at a foundational level of digital maturity. For comparison, 16 per cent rated their digital maturity as advanced, and 26 per cent rated it as moderate.

As a result, just 18 per cent of financial institutions have successfully combined automated and manual data processes, and 56 per cent have yet to fully automate their decision-making processes by consolidating internal and external data sources.

However, financial leaders are aware of the importance of an effective data strategy, and 80 per cent admitted that they would be able to improve customer experience when data integration challenges are overcome, 62 per cent said employee satisfaction increases with effective data integration as the work becomes more rewarding, and 42 per cent said that operation costs would decrease.

The report also revealed that 89 per cent of respondents believe that their organisation’s investment in data collection and optimisation tools will increase, and 74 per cent even revealed that they already had plans to invest in data transformation over the next 12 months. Similarly, 68 per cent revealed plans to improve data driven customer insights, 57 per cent plan to ingest additional external data sources and 54 per cent are looking to centralise data management.

“An effective data strategy is key to reforming operations, streamlining workplace efficiency and improving costs,” said Wayne Johnson, Co-founder and CEO for Encompass Corporation. “Unfortunately, financial institutions are operating in a complex, data hungry environment, and have fallen behind when it comes to automation and data integration practices, despite industry-wide recognition of the merits associated with an effective data strategy.

“As organisations look to integrate even more external data sources into decision making processes, and manage an increasingly disparate workforce of employees based in different locations or even countries, efficient data management, enabled by cutting edge technology will no longer be just a recommendation, but an absolute necessity.”