A new global survey from leading software provider ITRS Group has found financial services firms are struggling to keep up with an unprecedented rate of digital transformation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The survey reveals that the IT environment of 84% of financial institutions has changed more in the last 12 months than in the company’s lifespan. Digital transformation was reported to be the main driver of this trend, with 70% of respondents citing this factor. In fact, 94% of firms agreed that digital transformation is putting stress on their IT systems, compromising real-time data analysis, and creating storage and security issues.  

With 53% of firms already experiencing at least one full day of downtime every year, a figure which is on the rise, the development and onboarding of IT monitoring solutions is critical to ensure firms’ systems can cope with the rapid rate of digital transformation. Yet, amidst tightening budgets, operational resilience is dropping down the list of priorities. With almost eight in 10 firms selecting lower quality IT solutions as a direct result, IT resilience has been further compromised – at a time when it is more important than ever.  

Commenting on the findings of the report, Guy Warren, CEO of ITRS Group, said: “Moving forward, operational resilience is something that firms simply cannot afford to compromise on. The pandemic has forced digital transformation to move at warp speed in order to allow businesses to keep up with rapidly changing norms and expectations. While there’s no doubt this shift has brought with it significant benefits, it is only now as we bunker down for a ‘COVID normal’ future that we are beginning to see the cracks. We are now hyper-dependent on complex digital systems that very few people on this planet could explain the mechanics of, let alone monitor manually.  

 “These results demonstrate once and for all the acute need for operational resilience. It’s already firmly on the agenda of regulators around the world, as well as customers, who are more likely than ever to take their business elsewhere in the face of repeated outages. The industry itself is now playing catch-up. Third-party solutions are a good way to deploy comprehensive IT estate monitoring on a shoestring budget, while still being able to ride the wave of digital transformation.” 

 The survey drew insights from over 300 technology and IT executives across North America, Europe and APAC. 

You can access the full results from the survey, “Financial institutions forgo critical IT spend: a global survey on operational resilience” here. 

Source: ITRS