Financial executives were blunt when sharing their views on the future of automation in banking with Bank Automation News, saying financial institutions will need the technology for survival.

“Automation will be the determining factor between those FIs who live and die,” wrote one executive as part of Bank Automation News’ survey “The State of Automation in Banking,” which fielded responses from 81 financial services executives from Nov. 5 to Jan. 14. Executives’ companies spanned banks, credit unions, finance companies, fintech startups, VC firms and vendors; 57% of executives were lenders and 42% of respondents’ companies had an asset range of more than $150 billion.

“In order to compete with its peers, every bank and financial institution will have to adopt automation,” said another respondent. “[It] will be required to survive,” wrote another.

This was the overall consensus of survey respondents who shared their views on the future of automation in banking with BAN.

About 65% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that automation tech will be a critical driver of operational excellence in the coming years. In fact, 89% of respondents expect to increase their automation spend in the next two years, with 11% reporting their spend will remain consistent. No respondents reported a decrease in automation spend within the next two years.

On a more granular level, 70% of respondents expect to boost the automation portion of their annual tech budgets in 2021 compared with 2020.

However, despite the opportunities available in operational efficiency and customer experience, there remain barriers to industry adoption of automation.

Culture, legacy architecture and regulatory risks were repeatedly listed as long-term impediments by survey respondents. Cost is another factor deterring adoption of automation, according to several survey respondents. That sentiment was echoed by technology executives from smaller FIs, who said it is challenging to justify automation investment when many community banks rely on their personal banking relationships.

However, as one respondent put it: “Smaller banks seem fearful of giving up relationship at the expense of automation. It’s not a zero-sum game.”

Bank Automation Ignite on March 2-3, 2021, is the virtual event for inspiring initiatives and investment in financial services automation. Formerly the Bank Innovation Ignite conference, financial services professionals can discover at this event new use cases and technologies that are accelerating automation in banking. Learn more and register at www.BankAutomationIgnite.com.