Across the global finance industry, competition is increasing at every enterprise level. As more organizations adopt mobile technology to accelerate innovation and stay afloat in a shifting and evolving sector, executives face a variety of digital workplace challenges to overcome moving forward.
And, if changing consumer preferences and standalone financial technology firms weren’t enough to handle, cyberattacks and regulatory compliance efforts have become more complex and crucial than ever.
Considering less than one in five finance institutions considers itself digitally mature in today’s technology-driven industry, most organizations have their work cut out if they wish to make enterprise mobility a success.
For financial services companies looking to manage the complexity and chaos advanced mobile technology can create, here are four primary challenges to consider:
Balancing IT’s Budget
Financial services investments into new digital capabilities have declined for three consecutive years.[tweet]
Despite the industry’s recent digital transformation initiatives, finance CEOs have dropped the ball when it comes to investing in their organization’s mobile capabilities. After all, financial services investments into new digital capabilities have declined for three consecutive years.
As mobile technology becomes ubiquitous across global industry workforces, unprepared finance firms will find it increasingly difficult to prioritize IT budget expenses. While it’s important to implement digital transformation initiatives, organizations must implement them strategically to optimize existing workflows, processes, and systems in a way that facilitates future growth and a higher likelihood of long-term success.
As finance increases investments in legacy technologies and IT infrastructure every year, those that fail to deliver new mobile capabilities and digital transformation will experience rapidly increasing overhead and maintenance costs—not to mention systems that grow increasingly vulnerable to data breaches and increasingly unsatisfying to mobile consumer demands every day.
Low-Risk Investment Ideas
As the global finance industry evolves, traditional solutions and ways of thinking often lead to trouble. While it may seem natural for decision makers to seek mobile technologies that mitigate or eliminate enterprise risks first, bold initiatives and adoption efforts are usually required to drive a truly impactful digital transformation.
For more than half of this sector, a mobility-powered software product would create significant digital business benefits.[tweet]
For more than half of this sector, a mobility-powered software product would create significant digital business benefits. Unfortunately, a multi-year ROI and implementation complexities can cause finance executives to hesitate. While short-term success and cautious technology investments make boardrooms happy, they usually fail to fully prepare the organization for long-term digital strategies and goals.
Digital Transformation Doubts
If a company’s culture leaves it unable or unwilling to accurately measure the impact mobile technology has on global operations, digital transformation initiatives will find it almost impossible to address core enterprise gaps and opportunities. While it may be easier for a business to attribute success to traditional systems today, doing so reduces the urgency to replace legacy technology with more agile, responsive solutions.
71% of financial services believe the industry can keep its mobile technology model relatively unchanged and still compete.[tweet]
In fact, many of today’s finance industry leadership have already made this mistake to some degree—71% believe their company can keep its mobile technology model relatively unchanged and still compete across the sector’s digital market.
Without an insightful and intelligent approach, as many as 75% of finance firms’ digital transformation efforts could fall victim to a competitor’s early success. As tech-savvy services continue to disrupt the industry’s global market share, other organizations are increasingly likely to rush the delivery of their own initiatives and ultimately fail to deliver a scalable solution or quantifiable business impact.
Lack of Mobility-Minded Talent
More than 80% of financial services companies believe personnel needs a substantial—if not complete—overhaul moving forward to ensure digital transformation success.[tweet]
In addition to adoption and integration challenges, the finance industry fears a lack a future workforce talent and capabilities when it comes to mobile technology. More than 80% of these companies believe personnel needs a substantial—if not complete—overhaul moving forward to ensure digital transformation success.
Going forward, financial services decision makers must focus on hiring new types of talent, even if it means creating new positions or roles focused on data analytics, domain knowledge, and a general aptitude for technology. After all, three-quarters of finance firms believe current staffing solutions are a competitive weakness in today’s globally competitive environment and 80% struggle to find and retain workers with skillsets that help advance digital transformation.
Simply put, these organizations can’t succeed unless they put their money where their mouth is. Despite many global institutions that claim employee recruiting, development, and retainment is a top priority, only three percent of the finance industry plan to significantly increase employee hiring and reskilling programs over the next three years.
So, how are finance’s leading brands leveraging mobile technology to overcome these challenges? Download our financial services executive’s guide to enterprise mobility and find out. Or, click here to ask a MOBI expert instead!
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