Product Synopsis

This report presents the findings from a survey of 131 retail banks regarding their approach to Information & Communications Technology (ICT) procurement. The survey investigates the way that retail banks like to purchase technology, as well as the major IT and business objectives influencing their IT investment strategies.

Introduction and Landscape

Why was the report written?

To highlight the criteria on which retail banks select their ICT providers as well as the roles which have influence while making ICT purchasing decisions.

What is the current market landscape and what is changing?

Retail banks have an optimistic approach towards IT investments, and their preference towards hosted services is slowly gaining traction.

What are the key drivers behind recent market changes?

Banks are gradually shifting to the hosted model as they identify the importance of cloud solutions to boost their agility & scalability, and improve customer responsiveness.

What makes this report unique and essential to read?

Kable Global ICT Intelligence has invested significant resources in order to interview CIOs and IT managers about their IT Procurement. Very few IT analyst houses will have interviewed 130+ ICT decision makers in the retail banking industry in H2 2012.

Key Features and Benefits

Provides insights into retail banks' preferred buying approaches. Comprehend the business objectives that retail banks are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy. Appreciate the IT objectives that retail banks are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy. Understand the factors that are influencing retail banks' decision to select an ICT provider. Understand which organisational roles influence ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets.

Key Market Issues

Retail banks have a higher preference for buying technologies from local resellers compared to national resellers, as they tend to be in a better position to provide timely support services and also possess vertical expertise. Many banks are reluctant to entrust their sensitive customer and financial information to cloud service providers (public or private). Furthermore, data privacy and security regulations in many countries prohibit the storage and processing of customer data outside national borders. Retail banks are continuously looking to streamline their operations and achieve greater efficiency to support business growth. This is evident from the survey, where banks are placing utmost importance on the business objective of raising efficiency, assigning it the highest average rating of X on a scale of 1 to 4.

Increasing competition and deteriorating revenue growth are forcing retail banks to embrace leading edge technologies such as cloud computing, mobile services, and social media in order to reduce their operating costs and improve time to market for their new products. According to Kable's survey, 49% of retail banks state that they have an ICT infrastructure which is somewhat complex, with several hardware manufacturers, operating systems, databases, applications, and other elements, whilst 30% describe their ICT infrastructure as 'very complex' with multiple instances of different technology types.

Key Highlights

It is evident from the survey that an average 71% of retail banks are deploying their ICT solutions on-site, 29% of respondents prefer the hosted model. Business objective relating to increasing customer satisfaction also has significant influence on IT investment strategy amongst retail banks, with average ratings of X on a scale of 1 to 4. The IT objective of 'demonstrate the value of IT to the business' also has a significant influence on banks' IT investments, with average rating of X on a scale of 1 to 4. Aside from leading-edge technology, retail banks are also placing importance on selection factors including specific functionality expertise/depth, price, and expertise in an industry, assigning each factor an equal average rating of X on a scale of 1 to 4. Retail banks rate the CIO as the most influential authority when making ICT purchasing decisions, with the highest average rating of X on a scale of 1 to 4, followed by the CEO and the CFO/Finance Director.

1 Enterprise ICT investment trends

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Survey demographics

1.3 ICT budget changes

1.4 ICT investment priorities

2 ICT procurement trends

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Purchasing channels

2.3 Business objectives influencing IT investment strategy

2.4 IT objectives influencing IT investment strategy

2.5 ICT provider selection

2.6 Influencers

2.7 ICT infrastructure environment complexity

3 Summary

3.1 Retail banks are leveraging ICT to raise operational efficiency and achieve cost savings

4 Appendix

4.1 Definitions

4.2 Further reading

4.3 Contact the authors

List of Tables

Table 1: Retail banking - enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown

Table 2: Retail banking - enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees)

Table 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among retail banks

Table 4: Current and future investment priorities of retail banks across core technologies

Table 5: Retail banks' preferred approach to buying technologies

Table 6: Business objectives which influence retail banks' IT investment strategy

Table 7: IT objectives which influence retail banks' IT investment strategy

Table 8: Factors influencing retail banks' decision to choose an ICT provider

Table 9: Influence of organizational roles in making ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets

Table 10: Complexity of ICT infrastructure in retail banks

List of Figures

Figure 1: Retail banking - enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown

Figure 2: Retail banking - enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees)

Figure 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among retail banks

Figure 4: Current and future investment priorities of retail banks across core technologies

Figure 5: Retail banks' preferred approach to buying technologies

Figure 6: Business objectives which influence retail banks' IT investment strategy

Figure 7: IT objectives which influence retail banks' IT investment strategy

Figure 8: Factors influencing retail banks' decision to choose an ICT provider

Figure 9: Influence of organizational roles in making ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets

Figure 10: Complexity of ICT infrastructure in retail banks