More than three-quarters (76%) of Asia Pacific respondents surveyed by Broadridge, a US-based fintech company, said that the coronavirus pandemic has had a moderate to high impact on their firm’s operating model and next generation technology strategy.
As much as 44% firms in the region indicated that the pandemic has also accelerated the pace of technology implementation. China had the highest surveyed response in this category with 62% of firms reporting implementation has expanded.
“Digital leaders are succeeding with a clear vision and roadmap that prioritizes digitised communications, experiences, and workflows leveraging strong data and analytics,” said Tim Gokey, chief executive officer of Broadridge, in a statement.
In 2021, Broadridge surveyed 750 financial institutions for its Next-Gen Technology Survey. They had total assets or AUM ranging from $1bn to over $500bn.
The survey scored firms on digital transformation progress in terms of customer experiences, operational workflows and data analytics. It assessed the implementation rates of next-gen technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.
On average, companies in Asia Pacific allocate around 11% of their total annual information technology budget for digital transformation and next-generation technologies and in two years they expect to raise their spending to 14%.
Partnering with companies (44%), working with academic institutions (42%), and outsourcing development and maintenance work (32%), are the three most popular external approaches firms in the region use to tap into next-generation technologies for digital transformation. In the coming two years, more firms expect to lean on outsourcing (44%) over partnerships (41%), according to the survey
Global patterns
Worldwide, the trend is similar.
Three-quarters of firms are currently prioritising digitized customer experiences. In terms of the top three priorities for digital transformation in the next two years, customer interaction was the highest priority (77%), next operations (69%) and then sales and marketing (68%).
Artificial intelligence (AI) experienced the biggest jump in implementation levels at financial services firms. It increased from one-quarter of firms at mid-to-advanced levels of implementation in Broadridge’s 2020 survey, to nearly two-thirds (61%) in 2021’s survey.
The top three obstacles the firms face in implementing these emerging technologies and accelerating digital transformation include the rapid pace of technological change, the lack of a roadmap for innovation and the struggle to modernise IT infrastructure, according to Broadridge.
