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Financial Services Industry Is Ready to Lead on AI Adoption, Once Data Concerns Are Addressed

Mike Marks
Riverbed

The financial services industry (FSI) is poised to take the next steps in using AI as a tool to drive business growth, improve operations and deliver a better digital experience for users. However, before taking full advantage of AI's capabilities, leaders first must address several readiness issues as well as concerns over data confidentiality and accuracy.

Leaders in the financial services sector are bullish on AI, with 95% of business and IT decision makers saying that AI is a top C-Suite priority, and 96% of respondents believing it provides their business a competitive advantage, according to Riverbed's Global AI and Digital Experience Survey. Financial services organizations, looking to fend off digital native startups, are pursuing a strategic approach to AI that can reduce costs, increase efficiency, mitigate customer risk and enable customized services.

The industry is also more confident than most sectors in its ability to follow through on widespread AI adoption, with 46% of leaders saying they are fully prepared now to implement their AI strategies, compared with a 37% average across all sectors surveyed. While confidence is high, a majority within the industry are not currently prepared for AI according to the data, revealing a readiness gap in adopting AI, one of three key areas leaders need to address in the year ahead. Leaders in FSI, like those in other sectors, also have a reality gap, with 85% saying they're either "significantly" or "slightly" ahead of their competitors, indicating a level of overconfidence in their own progress. The biggest challenge facing the industry is the data gap, with leaders expressing concerns about both the security of their data and its usability.

Image
Riverbed 2024-11-2

Financial services handle more sensitive customer information than other sectors, and 80% of leaders are worried about the security implications of their data being accessible via the public domain, with their primary concerns being data privacy, regulatory compliance and cybersecurity threats. Despite high confidence in AI's abilities, decision-makers have less faith than those in other sectors in the quality of their data, with only about a third rating their data as excellent for completeness (36%) and accuracy (34%). They need reassurance in data confidentiality and accuracy before they can deliver secure digital experiences for their users, recognizing the need for full-fidelity data.

Younger Employees Are on Board with the Transition

Those concerns notwithstanding, FSI leaders are optimistic about a transformative shift toward AI, with 89% expecting to be fully prepared to implement their AI strategy by 2027 (up from the 46% who say they are ready now). That growth is reflected in their use of generative AI, with 36% saying they have currently implemented or prototyped generative AI, and 71% saying they will in 12 to 18 months.

Leaders say their workforces are mostly enthusiastic about AI, with 62% saying their teams have favorable views (compared with a 59% global average), while only 3% view AI skeptically (compared with 4% globally.) Within their workforces, leaders say Generation Z employees are the most comfortable with AI, at 55%, followed by millennials, at 36%, well ahead of Generation X and baby boomers, at a combined 9%. This suggests AI could eventually replace knowledge-holders; a generational shift in attitudes towards the technology could be why 68% of organizations are increasing investments in infrastructure and talent.

Image
Riverbed 2024-11-1

What Financial Service Leaders Expect from Automated AI

Younger generations of workers are also the most insistent about having a positive digital experience, which leaders believe can be improved via AI automation. Last year's survey found that 92% of business and IT leaders in financial services said the need to provide improved DEX for employees and customers would increase pressure on IT resources. However, nearly half (49%) of financial leaders reported that AI implementations have already optimized resource utilization or will do so within three years, and 94% agreed that AI would help deliver a better digital experience for users. By supporting stretched IT teams, AI implementations can help boost morale.

Other key areas that leaders expect AI will improve includes workflow automation (71%), automated remediation (62%) and autonomously offering 24/7 support via tools like chatbots (62%).

Image
Riverbed-2024-11-3

As IT decision makers increasingly move into C-Suites — 78% said they have a seat at the table — suggesting IT's critical role in driving business innovation is gaining traction. For example, these leaders say technologies such as AI and unified observability are critical to providing exemplary DEX, with 95% saying that unified observability is important (55% said critically important), and 94% calling for greater investment in unified observability solutions.

The next three years will also see a shift toward using AI to drive growth. Currently, leaders say their primary reasons for adopting AI are split almost evenly between operational efficiencies (51%) and driving growth (49%), but 54% expect fueling business growth to be the focus by 2027, ahead of operations, at 46%.

Finally, the survey found that properly implementing AI tools will be essential to boosting productivity, retaining staff, enabling collaboration and staying competitive in the FSI environment.

Mike Marks is VP of Product Marketing at Riverbed

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Financial Services Industry Is Ready to Lead on AI Adoption, Once Data Concerns Are Addressed

Mike Marks
Riverbed

The financial services industry (FSI) is poised to take the next steps in using AI as a tool to drive business growth, improve operations and deliver a better digital experience for users. However, before taking full advantage of AI's capabilities, leaders first must address several readiness issues as well as concerns over data confidentiality and accuracy.

Leaders in the financial services sector are bullish on AI, with 95% of business and IT decision makers saying that AI is a top C-Suite priority, and 96% of respondents believing it provides their business a competitive advantage, according to Riverbed's Global AI and Digital Experience Survey. Financial services organizations, looking to fend off digital native startups, are pursuing a strategic approach to AI that can reduce costs, increase efficiency, mitigate customer risk and enable customized services.

The industry is also more confident than most sectors in its ability to follow through on widespread AI adoption, with 46% of leaders saying they are fully prepared now to implement their AI strategies, compared with a 37% average across all sectors surveyed. While confidence is high, a majority within the industry are not currently prepared for AI according to the data, revealing a readiness gap in adopting AI, one of three key areas leaders need to address in the year ahead. Leaders in FSI, like those in other sectors, also have a reality gap, with 85% saying they're either "significantly" or "slightly" ahead of their competitors, indicating a level of overconfidence in their own progress. The biggest challenge facing the industry is the data gap, with leaders expressing concerns about both the security of their data and its usability.

Image
Riverbed 2024-11-2

Financial services handle more sensitive customer information than other sectors, and 80% of leaders are worried about the security implications of their data being accessible via the public domain, with their primary concerns being data privacy, regulatory compliance and cybersecurity threats. Despite high confidence in AI's abilities, decision-makers have less faith than those in other sectors in the quality of their data, with only about a third rating their data as excellent for completeness (36%) and accuracy (34%). They need reassurance in data confidentiality and accuracy before they can deliver secure digital experiences for their users, recognizing the need for full-fidelity data.

Younger Employees Are on Board with the Transition

Those concerns notwithstanding, FSI leaders are optimistic about a transformative shift toward AI, with 89% expecting to be fully prepared to implement their AI strategy by 2027 (up from the 46% who say they are ready now). That growth is reflected in their use of generative AI, with 36% saying they have currently implemented or prototyped generative AI, and 71% saying they will in 12 to 18 months.

Leaders say their workforces are mostly enthusiastic about AI, with 62% saying their teams have favorable views (compared with a 59% global average), while only 3% view AI skeptically (compared with 4% globally.) Within their workforces, leaders say Generation Z employees are the most comfortable with AI, at 55%, followed by millennials, at 36%, well ahead of Generation X and baby boomers, at a combined 9%. This suggests AI could eventually replace knowledge-holders; a generational shift in attitudes towards the technology could be why 68% of organizations are increasing investments in infrastructure and talent.

Image
Riverbed 2024-11-1

What Financial Service Leaders Expect from Automated AI

Younger generations of workers are also the most insistent about having a positive digital experience, which leaders believe can be improved via AI automation. Last year's survey found that 92% of business and IT leaders in financial services said the need to provide improved DEX for employees and customers would increase pressure on IT resources. However, nearly half (49%) of financial leaders reported that AI implementations have already optimized resource utilization or will do so within three years, and 94% agreed that AI would help deliver a better digital experience for users. By supporting stretched IT teams, AI implementations can help boost morale.

Other key areas that leaders expect AI will improve includes workflow automation (71%), automated remediation (62%) and autonomously offering 24/7 support via tools like chatbots (62%).

Image
Riverbed-2024-11-3

As IT decision makers increasingly move into C-Suites — 78% said they have a seat at the table — suggesting IT's critical role in driving business innovation is gaining traction. For example, these leaders say technologies such as AI and unified observability are critical to providing exemplary DEX, with 95% saying that unified observability is important (55% said critically important), and 94% calling for greater investment in unified observability solutions.

The next three years will also see a shift toward using AI to drive growth. Currently, leaders say their primary reasons for adopting AI are split almost evenly between operational efficiencies (51%) and driving growth (49%), but 54% expect fueling business growth to be the focus by 2027, ahead of operations, at 46%.

Finally, the survey found that properly implementing AI tools will be essential to boosting productivity, retaining staff, enabling collaboration and staying competitive in the FSI environment.

Mike Marks is VP of Product Marketing at Riverbed

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OpenTelemetry enjoys a positive perception, with half of respondents considering OpenTelemetry mature enough for implementation today, and another 31% considering it moderately mature and useful, according to a new EMA report, Taking Observability to the Next Level: OpenTelemetry's Emerging Role in IT Performance and Reliability ... and almost everyone surveyed (98.7%) express support for where OpenTelemetry is heading  ...

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If you've been in the tech space for a while, you may be experiencing some deja vu. Though often compared to the adoption and proliferation of the internet, Generative AI (GenAI) is following in the footsteps of cloud computing ...

Lose your data and the best case scenario is, well, you know the word — but at worst, it is game over. And so World Backup Day has traditionally carried a very simple yet powerful message for businesses: Backup. Your. Data ...

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A large majority (79%) believe the current service desk model will be unrecognizable within three years, and nearly as many (77%) say new technologies will render it redundant by 2027, according to The Death (and Rebirth) of the Service Desk, a report from Nexthink ...

Open source dominance continues in observability, according to the Observability Survey from Grafana Labs.  A remarkable 75% of respondents are now using open source licensing for observability, with 70% reporting that their organizations use both Prometheus and OpenTelemetry in some capacity. Half of all organizations increased their investments in both technologies for the second year in a row ...

Significant improvements in operational resilience, more effective use of automation and faster time to market are driving optimism about IT spending in 2025, with a majority of leaders expecting their budgets to increase year-over-year, according to the 2025 State of Digital Operations Report from PagerDuty ...

Image
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Are they simply number crunchers confined to back-office support, or are they the strategic influencers shaping the future of your enterprise? The reality is that data analysts are far more the latter. In fact, 94% of analysts agree their role is pivotal to making high-level business decisions, proving that they are becoming indispensable partners in shaping strategy ...

Today's enterprises exist in rapidly growing, complex IT landscapes that can inadvertently create silos and lead to the accumulation of disparate tools. To successfully manage such growth, these organizations must realize the requisite shift in corporate culture and workflow management needed to build trust in new technologies. This is particularly true in cases where enterprises are turning to automation and autonomic IT to offload the burden from IT professionals. This interplay between technology and culture is crucial in guiding teams using AIOps and observability solutions to proactively manage operations and transition toward a machine-driven IT ecosystem ...

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