Digital transformation in finance sector curtailed by inadequate tech skills

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, the provider of intelligently automated corporate Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions.

The report, conducted via independent polling agency, Pulse, analyzed responses from 100 technical decision makers across EMEA and North American territories. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of technical decision makers feel their organizations lack the skilled technical resources to integrate external data into core platforms, and, the vast majority (57%) believe they are only at a foundational level of digital maturity.

For comparison, 16% rated their digital maturity as advanced, and 26% rated it as moderate. As a result, just 18% of financial institutions have successfully combined automated and manual data processes, and 56% 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% admitted that they would be able to improve customer experience when data integration challenges are overcome, 62% said employee satisfaction increases with effective data integration as the work becomes more rewarding, and 42% said that operation costs would decrease.

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

Wayne Johnson, Co-founder and CEO of Encompass comments:

An effective data strategy is key to reforming operations, streamlining workplace efficiency and improving costs. 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 organizations 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.