Bank Technology News, profiled its IT spending forecast for 2011. The 11-item list includes:
1.Chris and Barney
Regulatory compliance is always a large IT outlay, but the politics of the recovery will make tech that helps banks follow the new rules a goldmine for GRC providers. The Dodd-Frank law is just one of many regulatory changes-RESPA, Basel III and new credit and debit card rules are also on tap-requiring banks that do business in the States to collectively spend billions on data mining, account aggregation, risk management and reporting technology. And the possibility of bank exposure to Wiki-leaks style risk will only up the ante in the months to come. The regulatory burden will lead to a boost in data integration and formatting tools, since Dodd-Frank will add more agencies that will request greater amounts of data, but do so in a manner that's not standardized among agencies. Additionally, business intelligence software that can allow a real-time view of progress will get attention. "It's not just about the amount of risk exposure, but providing a view as to how an institution is complying with new requirements," says David Wallace, global financial services marketing manager at SAS.
2.Transaction Safety Escorts
The more the use of the Internet and Internet-enabled technology grows, the more attractive it becomes to fraudsters and hackers. One of the big drivers of payments security tech in the coming year will be new encryption initiatives, and efforts to bring interoperability to point to point transaction encryption, a trend that will drive continued growth of automated payments. The PCI Council's scheduled to issue new guidance in 2011, so expect expanded bank investment in format preserving encryption and other measures that protect transactions in process while enabling merchants to retain consumer data for marketing purposes. And while the U.S. grapples with EMV, banks will be spending big on stopgap card processing products that look good in both chips and stripes.
3.Banks Help Those Who Help Themselves
The expansion of PFM as the entry point for Web banking portends a revolution in self-service that includes mobile, dashboards, advanced IVRs, call centers and high-touch branches.
4.Can You Pay Me Now?
A number of factors converged at the end of 2010 that will make 2011 a big year for mobile banking, most notably payments collaborations between card companies, banks and telecom firms. As stakeholders figure out how to carve up the market, expect more mobile payments apps-as well as other mobile financial services offerings that take advantage of RDC and GPS.
5.Socially Acceptable
Banks have looked at social media as almost an experimental tool that's nice for some customer service queries, but largely unknown for other uses. That's about to change as analytics and content tracking make CRM tools out of Twitter and Facebook.
6.Paper Chase
Advances in broadband are making it easier to transmit huge reams of documents electronically. While that doesn't spell the end of paper, it makes tree harvesting less necessary for document transfers. It also will give more traction to Web products such as online account opening and other products that allow banks to improve service while reducing manual labor.
7.IT's Easy Being Green
Beyond paper reduction, green initiatives will graduate to the mainstream, as the demonstrated benefits of strategies such as server virtualization, data deduplication and LEED building strategies make major inroads at banks.
8.Blue Skies Will Cloud Up
The need to accurately peg costs to tech use will overcome security fears, as more banks embrace cloud computing- particularly given the expected embrace of hybrid "community clouds."
9.Looking Corporate
The corporate cash management space is hot-the majority of new bank IT investments are actually coming in corporate banking, according to Celent's latest research on the subject. Competition among banks will also play a role-the research firm says mid-sized banks see corporate banking as a means to compete, and stand ready to offer IT solutions to entice business clients. The focus on business banking and payments innovation will intersect at process improvement and interoperability for corporate payments, long a sticking point for that industry.
10.Analyze This
Business intelligence will cement its marriage to CRM in the coming year, as predictive and behavioral modeling tools becomes a central cog in everything from marketing and cross selling to risk management to AML and security. "There's going to be a focus on success in providing wealth management tools [as a differentiator among banks]," says Jorgen Ericsson, vp and global head of financial services for Cisco's internet business solutions group.
11.Captain video
As paper fades as a means to communicate marketing and internal messages, video technology will ascend in 2011. Gartner says mobile, digital and Web-based television are all reaching "critical" tipping points that will bring video into the mainstream as a means for enterprises to deliver content. The research firm says that video will become commonplace over the next three years, and by 2013, more than 25 percent of the content that workers see in a day will be dominated by pictures, video or audio from telepresence and other technology. Customer-facing video will also increase in the coming year.
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