The Transformation Imperative In Financial Services Defies Any Crisis

Today's financial services firms often find that their application landscape is no longer able to cope with their most urgent business drivers. Forrester's Q3 2012 Global Financial Services Architecture Online Survey, which includes more than 170 participants from 34 countries and spans multiple financial services industry segments, shows that a majority of firms are transforming their application landscape or plan to do so soon. Firms with no intentions to work on transformation will soon face a more challenging competitive environment as their peers address business requirements faster and more cost effectively. This report probes how financial services firms are coping with these demands by considering business drivers, initial focal areas of transformation, timelines, budgets, budget increases, and delivery approaches, including the status of software-as-service in financial services. In addition, the report offers some guidance — based on survey results as well as Forrester client interactions and projects — as to why and how to start a transformation initiative.