The 2018 Digital Trends in Financial Services report is a barometer of the extent to which financial services and insurance (FSI) organisations are embracing digital technology, focusing their strategies and prioritising resources for the year ahead and beyond.

The report is based on a sample of almost 700 senior industry leaders (manager level or above) who were among around 13,000 digital professionals taking part in the annual Digital Trends survey.

The following sections are featured in the report:

  • The CX imperative: meeting the fintech challenge
  • Data, personalisation and AI
  • Capabilities, skills and budgets
  • Actionable tips to help future-proof your FSI business

Findings include:

  • FSI companies maintain focus on customer experience (CX) and the customer journey. More than a quarter (28%) of FSI respondents rank optimising the CX as the ‘single most exciting opportunity’ in 2018, compared to 18% of their peers across all other sectors. They are also significantly more likely than their peers to regard customer journey optimisation as ‘very important’ over the next few years (81% for FSI vs. 69% for other sectors).
  • Organisations in this sector are neglecting content as a key requirement in the recipe for creating compelling experiences. FSI companies are less inclined than their peers in other sectors to cite the creation of compelling content for digital experiences as the top opportunity for the year ahead (7% vs. 15%). Content marketing, content management, and creation and delivery of video content are also relatively off-radar as priorities for FSI companies, when compared with those outside of the industry.
  • FSI industry seeks to master data-driven marketing, personalisation and AI.
    • Data-driven marketing is regarded as the second most exciting opportunity for 2018, registering a percentage which is higher than the equivalent figure for respondents in other sectors (23% vs. 15%).
    • More than a third (37%) of respondents in this sector describe targeting and personalisation as a top-three priority for 2018, compared to less than a quarter (23%) of respondents across all sectors.
    • The majority (61%) of companies surveyed are either using artificial intelligence (AI) already, or planning to do so within the next 12 months, a percentage that puts this sector ahead of others (44%).
  • Technology is a barrier to digital progress. The proportion of FSI companies that have implemented a highly integrated, cloud-based technology stack is in single figures (7%). Wealth and asset management providers are particularly challenged in respect of technology, with 61% rating technology as ‘difficult to master’.

Econsultancy’s Digital Intelligence Briefings, sponsored by Adobe, look at some of the most important trends affecting the marketing landscape.