Top three challenges and opportunities

• Response to customer needs. Ranked as one of the top trends in all researches, financial institutions/Retailers need to shift from physical interactions to digital engagement. For enterprises that digitize customer journeys, there can be a significant benefit in revenues, cost reductions and customer satisfaction.
• Optimization of costs. Because of the efficiencies of digital-only competition, enterprises will need to consider divesting from non-core operations and leveraging intelligent automation. In addition, organizations will need to reinvent back office processes and replace aging infrastructure.
• Creation of new revenue streams. Open banking and the use of APIs will open new opportunities for both cost reduction and revenue growth. As the broader financial ecosystem expands beyond traditional services, new products will be developed and segments served that will provide differentiated offerings and monetization opportunities.

Top trends

Artificial Intelligence

Forrester:
“Digital Execs Must Understand How AI Will Transform their Business …
AI is set to disrupt business models, change operating models, and reimagine customer
experiences. Digital execs must prepare their organizations for change.
… And Take A Strategic Approach To AI
Digital execs must move away from a tactical approach to AI to a strategic one. They need
to think about why they're pursuing AI initiatives, how they should organize themselves,
and what types of skills they need.”

https://www.research.ibm.com/artificial-intelligence/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/research-area/artificial-intelligence/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-platform
https://www.ibm.com/watson/advantage-reports/future-of-artificial-intelligence.html

Open APIs / API Economy

Gartner:
“We live in an API economy, a set of business models and channels based on secure access of functionality and exchange of data. APIs make it easier to integrate and connect people, places, systems, data, things and algorithms, create new user experiences, share data and information, authenticate people and things, enable transactions and algorithms, leverage third-party algorithms, and create new product/services and business models.”
“The API economy is an enabler for turning a business or organization into a platform.” said Kristin R. Moyer, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Platforms multiply value creation because they enable business ecosystems inside and outside of the enterprise to consummate matches among users and facilitate the creation and/or exchange of goods, services and social currency so that all participants are able to capture value.”