a FINANCIAL SERVICES industry guide
to thinking forward for the year ahead
Executive Summary
MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT,
AND COMMUNICATIONS
HEALTHCARE
RETAIL
WHO WE TALKED TO: 105 leaders in financial services organizations
Customer experience (CX) is rapidly catalyzing change for financial services in 2020, yet only about one quarter of leaders in the industry feel very prepared to address this top priority. Overcoming barriers to preparedness and operationalizing the experience will require financial services firms to cast aside functional silos and embrace matrixed, horizontal ways of working. In this new organizational paradigm, financial services leaders must move their attention to aligning people, organizational design, and culture to deliver the ideal experience.
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Accelerated momentum around CX
Operationalizing the experience
The attainability of the 2020
agenda hinges on people
Top priorities address the creation of value for both the customer and the business. Customer experience (CX) (88%) is tied with revenue generation (88%) as the top priority for financial services firms.
As financial services firms strive to better serve the customer, operationalizing the experience is a top consideration.
Operationalizing CX requires financial services firms to move from vertical, siloed organizations to matrixed organizations with ways of working centered around customer solutions.
There’s a heavy focus on aligning people, organizational design, and culture to deliver the ideal experience. Organizational design and efficiency is a priority among 73% of financial services leaders. Only about one-third feel very prepared to address it.
Taking Action
How financial services can capitalize on these market trends in the year ahead:
1. Reimagine client experiences.
Use Experience Economics to design a client journey that not only creates a positive experience but also maximizes corresponding business value (e.g. revenue generation and operational efficiency). Then, apply Accelerated Service Design to blueprint the organizational components that will need to be aligned to deliver the desired experience across people, process, and technology.
2. Align technology and process to deliver experience.
Determine the data and technology solutions—including digitization, intelligent automation, and mobility solutions—that can optimize processes, manage costs, and ultimately deliver an improved client experience. Focus on upskilling and reskilling employees to use these new tools and processes in their roles.
3. Accelerate the adoption of change.
Focus on attracting and retaining strong leaders to enable CX-driven change. Apply people-centric change techniques to combat change saturation and engage employees at all levels of the organization to drive higher adoption around new organizational initiatives. This approach will also help employees embrace the processes and technologies to enable that experience.
Functions:
34% Finance/Accounting
22% IT
15% Operations
11% Sales
9% Marketing
7% HR
2% Research & Development
Levels:
30% President/C-suite
30% EVP/SVP/VP
12% Sr. Director
17% Director
11% Sr. Manager
2018 Revenue:
$1B-$5B: 29%
$5B-$10B: 25%
$10B-$20B: 18%
$20B+: 28%
Customer experience (CX) is rapidly catalyzing change for financial services in 2020, yet only about one quarter of leaders in the industry feel very prepared to address this top priority. Overcoming barriers to preparedness and operationalizing the experience will require financial services firms to cast aside functional silos and embrace matrixed, horizontal ways of working. In this new organizational paradigm, financial services leaders must move their attention to aligning people, organizational design, and culture to deliver the ideal experience.
Click ahead to see who we talked to >
Top priorities for the year
Revenue Generation (tied):
88% cite as a strategic priority; 44% feel very prepared to address
1
2
Customer-Centricity/Experience (tied):
88% cite as a strategic priority; 23% feel very prepared to address
3
Cybersecurity:
86% cite as a strategic priority; 50% feel very prepared to address
4
Operational Efficiency:
85% cite as a strategic priority; 8% feel very prepared to address
Strategic emphasis on CX is highest for financial services firms with more than $5B in annualized revenue.
Accelerated momentum around CX
There’s a lack of confidence in the ability to address this imperative, yet firms are making strides: 23% feel very prepared to address CX, up from 16% a year earlier.
Financial services firms are examining opportunities to exploit disruptive technologies to drive CX, improve operational efficiency, and yield new revenue streams as the top priorities.
CX (55%) and data & technology (51%) are the top two transformation
areas for 2020.
Operational efficiency is a top-three priority (85%) and is highest among banks with annual revenue between
$5 billion and $10 billion.
Yet only 8% feel very prepared to address operational efficiency.
17% believe that operational efficiency provides a definite competitive advantage.
Compounding the focus on operational efficiency, cost reduction is the No. 1 internal catalyst driving change in strategic priorities (48%).
Financial services firms are focused on protecting the bottom-line and extracting more productivity out of every dollar of spend by optimizing backstage measures like operational efficiency ratio (OER).
Employee digital adoption is the No. 2 internal catalyst driving change in financial services (41%).
Digital also plays a critical role in driving operational efficiency.
To harness the power of digital in driving efficiency, financial services firms are applying strategies like process digitization.
81% of financial services leaders perceive that cognitive solutions (e.g., RPA, intelligent automation) present a definite competitive advantage.
Employee digital adoption is the No. 2 internal catalyst driving change in financial services.
To harness the power of digital in driving efficiency, financial services firms are applying strategies like process digitization.
81% of financial services leaders perceive that cognitive solutions (e.g., RPA, intelligent automation) present a definite competitive advantage.
People will play a key role in activating the ways of working required to deliver CX, yet barriers to addressing top priorities are heavily people-related.
Knowledge/skills (65%), is the top internal factor affecting financial services leaders’ preparedness to address strategic priorities.
Addressing employee knowledge and skill gaps will be especially critical to operate successfully in a matrixed organization.
While 73% of leaders are prioritizing talent management and development, only 13% of leaders feel very prepared to address it as a strategic priority.
Equally critical to delivering CX is a strong culture and shared purpose set by leadership.
About 36% of financial services leaders believe that addressing organizational culture is very attainable.
Only 25% believe that addressing organizational purpose, mission, and vision is very attainable.
Evolving organizational design and culture to deliver CX will bring change, but leaders lack confidence in their ability to accelerate the adoption of these new programs.
Only 15% feel very prepared to address change management.
of business
leaders
Of Business Leaders
2020 top transformation areas
2020 top transformation areas
of business
leaders
Of Business Leaders
Of Business Leaders
of business
leaders
For additional information and to download the 2020 Beacon white paper.
Download the 2020 Beacon White paper
Download the 2020 Beacon White paper
For additional information and to download the 2020 Beacon white paper.
Download the 2020 Beacon White paper
Download the 2020 Beacon White paper