Digital Transformation » Big Data » One-third of UK finance industry falling behind on digital transformation

One-third of UK finance industry falling behind on digital transformation

CFOs seemingly hesitant to drive digital transformation, despite recognising the benefits of new tech.

Nearly 32% of financial organisations have not yet undergone digital transformation, despite digital integration being linked to higher customer satisfaction, according to a recently published FinTech Barometer.

Onguard, which provides the yearly FinTech Barometer, surveyed 1,000 finance professionals in the UK and found that 23% of companies will not participate in digital transformation for at least another year.

Part of that decision may come directly from CFOs, with 65% believing that a digital transformation will result in fewer jobs and 38% believing their job, in its current form, will not exist 10 years from now.

While that job insecurity may make CFOs hesitant to join forces with fintechs and develop digital tools, data shows that digital accessibility is incredibly important to customers and companies alike moving forward.

A year on from the GDPR, it seems that customers are content to share their information for digital accessibility as long as the principle of ‘put the customer first’ is implemented. In 2017, research showed that over half of consumers saw information sharing as essential to the modern digital economy, especially if they received personalised digital content in return.

Bert van der Zwan, chief executive officer at Onguard, said: “In order to be successful outside, you have to start inside the organisation. When all the processes are sorted out internally, it’s time for an organisation to look outward and raise customers’ experiences to a higher level.”

Joining forces

To make their digital transformation easier, 83% of CFOs have either developed their own financial software or joined forces with an established fintech company. 70% said their principal reason for working with a fintech is to make credit management easier.

For companies that do undergo a digital transformation, 45% said their end goal was to provide a better customer experience. A further 43% found that digital integration increased the efficiency of their business processes.

Going forward, research shows that digital integration will be key in providing customers with real-time information and service. Only 15% of those surveyed currently offer their customers real-time financial reporting, with 30% favouring a monthly reporting system.

The change to a real-time, digitally-sound system also benefits CFOs directly, with 54% indicating that they make decisions based on data and 41% using that data to make predictive analyses.

“Thanks to digital transformation, it is easy for organisations to collect all sorts of data about customers,” van der Zwan said. “This data is processed in real time and provides insight, so that an organisation can respond even better to the customer’s behaviour and can even predict whether a customer is going to pay the invoice. Ultimately, this will lead to a better customer experience.”

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