This article was written by Snowflake and originally appeared on the Snowflake Blog here: https://www.snowflake.com/blog/datas-evolution-in-the-cloud-financial-services-invests-in-data/
Financial services executives see many opportunities in using data-driven insights. More than a third (34%) of them cite expanding their customer base and 26% say raising employee productivity and increasing digital capabilities is the biggest opportunity.
These are some of the insights from a recent survey, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Snowflake, of 914 global executives across eight industries, including 114 from the financial services, insurance, and banking sector. The survey reveals how this sector’s leaders are adapting their data strategies, engaging with the broader data ecosystem, and converting data insights into growth and performance.
But financial services companies face roadblocks to optimizing data usage. Frequently, data is siloed away in legacy systems and in product- or service-specific applications, prohibiting a unified view of data. Without consolidated data, it’s virtually impossible to conduct the advanced analytics necessary to glean valuable knowledge and make data-driven decisions.
The good news is that financial services companies continue to invest at above-average rates to overcome their legacy data silo problem. Respondents report that budgets in the sector have increased significantly over the past three years when it comes to analyzing and drawing insights from data and integrating data into improving business processes and the customer experience.
To enhance their data capabilities over the next three years, financial services executives say they’re going to invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning tools (33%), increase employee capabilities around data (32%), and improve their data infrastructure (30%). Their companies have the resources and the will required to integrate data from a variety of sources to reach deeper insights, driving growth and reducing risk exposure across the industry.