Banks need to update their legacy systems and modernize their technology, no surprise there. But just how many operational leaders at banks think their institution’s survival depends on it?
That would be 79% of operations leaders in North America banks, according to a recent report by Accenture. That’s four out of five banks.
The report titled “Back Office, It’s Time to Meet the Customers,” surveyed 80 executives responsible for operations (middle- and back-office functions) at small, mid-sized, regional and large banks in the U.S. and Canada.
Among the technologies that banks are adapting are cloud and artificial intelligence. In fact, of those surveyed, 48% said they already use cloud-based applications, while 27% said they will in the next year. Surprisingly, only 22% of those surveyed are currently using artificial intelligence, 33% said will in the coming year. Then about 16% of these banks are using robotic automation processes, while 33% said they have plans to do so by next year.
Oddly enough, the report shows that banks tend to view investing in technology and improving customer experience as two separate items, perhaps not realizing that the two are closely tied to one another.
Alan McIntyre, a senior managing director at Accenture and head of its banking practice, said in a statement:
Banks can focus on the customer experience by combining key technologies that they can implement today, without a major overhaul of their existing IT infrastructure… For instance, by using cloud, robotic process automation and artificial intelligence, banks can plug-and-play new customer-facing apps and processes within or around their existing legacy systems. We believe that this approach can, through revenue and productivity gains, increase a bank’s return on equity by as much as seven percentage points.
Read the full report here.
This survey, released earlier this week, was conducted in November and December 2017.






