Confidence in digital and leadership capabilities in the financial sector has deteriorated since 2012, according to a report by a think tank which specialises in digital services.
Compared with a similar survey carried out by Capgemini Research Institute seven years ago, fewer business leaders now believe that their firms have the “necessary digital capabilities to succeed”.
Respondents recorded a decline in confidence in their business operations, with only 33% of executives stating that they now have the “necessary operational capabilities” that their firms require, compared with 46% in the previous survey.
Business executives were critical of “a lack of compelling vision for digital transformation” across their organisations, with only 40% of banking respondents and 26% of insurance respondents saying that they had a “high-level roadmap” in place for digital transformation.
Banks and insurance companies also highlighted a leadership and skills gap, with just 41% of respondents indicating that their firm had the leadership capabilities that it required, down from 51% in 2012. Confidence in leadership fell significantly in the areas of IT-business relationships (from 63% to 35%) and engagement (from 54% to 33%).
The financial sector lags the non-financial sector when it comes to launching new businesses based on digital technology – only 39% of banks and 33% of insurance companies have started new ventures in this area compared with 41% of non-financial companies.
In conducting the survey, Capgemini surveyed more than 1,300 business leaders across more than 750 organisations. For the financial services component, it canvassed 369 business leaders in more than 213 organisations, 125 of these firms coming from the banking sector and the remainder from the insurance segment.
Anirban Bose, chief executive of Capgemini’s Financial Services, said that this research survey provides a reality check across the financial services industry, alerting participants to the full extent of the digital transformation challenge.
“This provides a wake-up call for banks and insurers to re-examine their business models and to move to tomorrow’s model which is collaborative, innovative and agile,” he said.
“The leading companies are working within an ecosystem of third-party partners and nurturing a bottom-up culture of innovation and experimentation.”
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