Poor Tech Planning Hits Financial Services Firms' Revenues

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial services executives who underinvest in the technology planning process may cost their firms significant revenues, according to new research from CEB, (NYSE: CEB) a best practice insight and technology company. In interviews with over 1,100 financial services executives, CEB found firms that failed to dedicate adequate resources to their planning investments took, on average, 2.5 times longer to realize value from them compared with firms that did not shortchange the planning process.

Realizing faster value from technology investments, while increasingly important to most industries, is an urgently felt need within financial services at present.  As customer preferences change and the premium placed on innovation rises, firms are forced to move faster to keep up with market expectations. CEB data shows that ensuring technology projects are delivered on or ahead of schedule can provide an increased business impact worth up to 4% of annual revenues.

"The pace of innovation means that it's never been more critical for financial services firms to deliver against objectives aligned to major technology investments," said Peter Aykens, financial services research leader at CEB. "While executives naturally look to expedite planning to capture value sooner, that this approach has the opposite effect, causing significant implementation delays and costing millions."

CEB's Speed to Value work examined the two core stages of new technology investments: planning and implementation. The research suggests that 85% of delays occurred before implementation, during the planning process. Financial Services leaders seeking greater return on their technology investments faster should commit to effective planning and focus on:

• Decision-Making: Firms that succeed with their technology projects speed up decision-making by reducing the impact of project "handoffs," ensuring resources align to their most important projects, and cutting time spent on unnecessary vendor evaluations.
• Flexibility: Fast firms allow greater flexibility by ensuring that judgment shapes the planning process, setting the fastest processes as defaults, and ensuring that their IT teams are flexible enough to adapt support to each project.
• Alignment: Successful technology projects involve communicating speed expectations among colleagues, emphasizing IT performance metrics, while measuring and reducing the effort required for necessary collaboration across the business.

FS executives can learn more and assess their organization's speed by visiting CEB's Speed to Value page.

About CEB

CEB is a best practice insight and technology company. In partnership with leading organizations around the globe, we develop innovative solutions to drive corporate performance. CEB equips leaders at more than 10,000 companies with the intelligence to effectively manage talent, customers, and operations. CEB is a trusted partner to 90% of the Fortune 500, nearly 75% of the Dow Jones Asian Titans, and more than 85% of the FTSE 100. More at cebglobal.com.

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