Financial services firms will likely take a more strategic and longer-term view to simplifying their businesses in the next 12 months, says Grant Peters, EY Oceania Financial Services Managing Partner.
In 2023, Australia’s financial services will need to navigate the war for talent and take a more strategic and long-term view towards simplifying their businesses, according to Grant Peters, EY Oceania Financial Services Managing Partner.
“We are closing in on the third year since the global pandemic started amid uncertain geopolitical and global economic conditions. The financial services industry has generally responded well and weathered the storm because of a strong focus on its customers and its people, while also embracing the digitization and automation of its operations.
“Companies have done well to embrace modern technology to accelerate digitization and automation during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there’s more to do. There’s been a strong focus from firms in understanding what their future data needs are and how best to gather and embed data into their business operations, so they can go beyond the nuts and bolts of service delivery and develop more innovation to reach and serve customers.
“Looking ahead, financial services firms will likely take a more strategic and longer-term view to simplifying their businesses, not just to reduce costs, but to meet the increasing experience demands of their customers.
They will also need to continue to navigate the war for talent, given low unemployment rates, and focus on areas like living their purpose, rethinking the workforce skills they need for the future and how to attract and retain staff, as well as evolving the hybrid work environment, says Peters.
“While there was focus on this through the pandemic, we’ll see increased attention on operational resilience, including the robustness of supply chains and the services provided by third-party organisations,” he says.
Cyber and data security have always been important, but there will be a heightened focus on these given recent high-profile events in Australia and around the world, Peters says.
“Lastly, as many companies look for future growth opportunities coming out of the pandemic in a very competitive market, they’ll likely focus on new and innovative ways of connecting with both their existing and new customers with new products and services, including in areas adjacent to their traditional areas.”