Financial services firms have always kept an eye on new technologies, but the global landscape shift in 2020 has heightened the importance of committing to digital transformation today. With little warning, teams were forced to drastically change operations, to meet new employee and customer demands.
As the dust settles, it’s time to answer some critical questions about the future of the financial services industry. What is the current state of the industry landscape? How can the momentum gained over the last two years be maintained as digital solutions become a more permanent part of day-to-day operations?
To answer these questions, here are five emerging trends and opportunities that management aspirants should be aware of, especially the ones planning to specialize in Finance from the best PGDM colleges in India.
Systems Modernization
The events of 2020 tested current structures in the financial industry and pushed them to their limits. It will therefore be imperative going forward to modernize outdated core systems.
For instance, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many-core systems could not handle the volume of transactions. As a result, dated systems struggled to handle the increased demands.
To improve operational efficiencies, financial management is looking to adopt emerging technologies. Hence, hands-on experience with financial management-specific tools, technologies, and platforms is a valuable skill for recent MBA Finance graduates.
Data Analytics and Reporting
With the advent of new digital tools, reporting has become faster and more accessible. Thanks to advances in technology, investors now have real-time access to data thanks to advanced analytics.
Data analytics isn’t new for financial businesses to provide clients with valuable insights, improve process efficiency or reduce risk. However, businesses can now use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to enable enhanced data to support more advanced analytics and data visualization tools that offer insights in real time.
Because of the increased demand for reporting, graduates with experience in data analytics will be in high demand.
The Advent of FinTech Businesses
FinTech companies have emerged due to the growth of Digital Finance and Digital Money (DFDM) in financial fields. DFDM encompasses a wide range of financial products, financial businesses, finance-related software, and new forms of customer communication and interaction, all of which are enabled by Financial Technology (FinTech) firms.
FinTechs, once viewed as competitors, have now become ideal partners for banks due to their ability to keep up with technological advancements. These companies can offer tech-enabled banking products, such as marketing, administration, and loan servicing. Thus, partnerships between banks and FinTech firms are reshaping the financial services industry.
Management graduates who want to work in FinTech must learn new ways to engage with technologically savvy customers and thoroughly understand DFDM.
Digital Transformation
Finance professionals must understand the significance of technology in the financial industry. Banks and financial institutions must assess the value of their operations as customer preferences, and lifestyles change as they strive to become more technologically agile.
Mobile-First Experience
People simply want to manage basic transactions on their mobile devices through self-service as they continue to bank online. Customers anticipate that 61 percent of their banking transactions will be digital by 2024.
Given this data, it’s no surprise that banks have identified digital customer experience as their top business challenge and priority investment area for the coming years.
Increasing SMS outreach efforts, developing embedded tools for self-service, simplifying complex applications with guided forms, and adapting to new remote notary laws that allow new documents to be notarized digitally are a few ways financial institutions consider elevating their customer experience.
While banks and financial institutions banded together to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, the need for highly educated and versatile PGDM Finance graduates in a post-pandemic world is unquestionable.
As the industry adapts to new technologies and trends, companies’ ability to transform will directly impact their strategies for surviving the next evolution. As a result, management aspirants must stay current on new technology and understand the risks and challenges of implementing it.
Here, choosing a reputed business school to acquire expertise in finance knowledge would be the deciding factor for a thriving career in finance. Asian Business School Noida is one of such top PGDM colleges in Delhi-NCR that prepares its students for top positions through a uniquely designed curriculum, experiential pedagogy, and the guidance of experienced faculty and corporates for the challenges of the finance world.