SPECIALIST INSIGHT
opportunity to witness the evolution of this thinking from then to now firsthand , where banks and FinTechs have moved beyond competition and actually complement each other by each doing what they ’ re good at . It ’ s this symbiotic relationship that continues to foster innovation in the industry .
Given your extensive experience in banking solutions and outsourcing , what insights can you offer about current trends and future directions in the industry ?
The trajectory of the financial industry today is largely defined by two trends : the move to the cloud and the specialisation of IT talent .
NOVATION : SOPRA WARE ’ S CEO
things that help to propel me forward at the company and into the role of CEO .
One of the biggest challenges I ’ ve faced during my time at SBS was managing the shift from a services-based company to a
software company . We had to attract top software talent as a non-software business and train our existing staff from a servicesto-software mindset . We now oversee the rollout of various digital banking , lending and financing solutions to more than 1,500 banks and financial institutions worldwide .
What initially sparked your passion for the financial industry , and how has that evolved throughout your career ?
I entered the financial services industry on a bit of a whim early in my career . As a high school graduate , I had to choose a trainee program to enter into . I chose banking because the industry was undergoing a rapid transformation at the time , which made it an attractive avenue for me to start my career . I joined banking as the internet and FinTechs were starting to emerge , and banks were growing and transforming with the times .
Back then , FinTechs were seen as competition to the banks . I ’ ve had the
While ‘ cloud migration ’ and other similar terms have become somewhat of buzzwords due to the scale at which this migration is happening across industries , it ’ s a lot more than just moving from one framework to another . Banks have more data at their fingertips than ever before , and the cloud provides the only environment for them to store and process this data efficiently . Without it , they ’ re more or less stagnant in their ability to actually leverage the data to achieve their business goals and deliver more value to their customers through personalised , data-driven financial experiences .
The specialisation of IT talent refers to the shifting demographics within IT departments at banks . Among smaller local and regional banks , we ’ re seeing more and more institutions outsource their IT functions to technology experts and consultants as digitisation becomes critical to their ability to deliver on rising consumer expectations .
Large banks are focusing their in-house IT resources , especially within dedicated areas of their business where digitisation is driving strategic business value . In many cases , these business units are focused entirely on innovating new customer-facing solutions as banks work to differentiate themselves in today ’ s crowded market . Meanwhile , things like data processing that don ’ t require a high-level of human intervention , or provide banks with strategic market differentiation , are being handled by AI , Machine Learning and other automated processes . www . intelligentfin . tech
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