Hallmark of innovation defined as regional ICT budgets grow
- 06 March, 2015 06:15
Every two out of five decision-makers in Asia's financial institutions are expecting growth in IT budgets to exceed 10 percent in 2015 as the industry collectively renews its resolution to further digitise its practices.
According to recent IDC findings, the C-suite of the Asia/Pacific banking and insurance communities are found to be aligned in their opinion on technology investments for the fiscal year, providing collective views of 215 unique organisations across the region.
On the flip side however, only a third of those represented are expecting their technological budgets to stagnate or contract within the fiscal year.
The idea that Asian institutions now have the youngest core systems globally has been corroborated by 32 percent of those surveyed having admitted to owning related IT assets which are less than seven years old; the median age for European and North American core banking systems are 12 and 20 years respectively.
The bid for greater business agility is also apparent in other IT domains – three in every five institutions are found to be committing themselves to private, hybrid and public Cloud investments for the upcoming year, breaking the years-long indecision that has permeated the industry.
"Combined with the solidification of the ASEAN Economic Community charter, greater affordability of IT in the enterprise and consumer space, as well as the rise of regulators as enablers rather than inhibitors of innovation, we believe the significant shifts in IT investment witnessed over the past years are a strong reflection of future trends,” notes Sui-Jon Ho, Market Analyst, IDC Financial Insights.
“And ultimately, of our financial sector's growing maturity in reconciling 3rd Platform technologies with day-to-day operations.
“The hallmark of a truly 'innovative' organisation does not lie in a complete departure from legacy systems or practices, but in renewing them through the right technological acquisition, thus creating new synergies which are still firmly anchored to the existing business."