Financial Services edition
of F5’s 7th annual State of Application Strategy (SOAS) report sheds new light
on sector’s progress and ambitions
Dubai, UAE. July 26, 2021. Financial
services organizations are the most bullish of all sectors when it comes to
digital transformation, according to new research by F5.
An
industry-specific cut of the 2021 State of Application Strategy Report
found that 100% of surveyed financial services organizations are working on
digital transformation efforts, up from 84% last year.
Furthermore,
nearly 75% are also deeply into the automation of operational processes, and
most are looking toward AI-assisted business. At the same time, telemetry is
growing in importance, as decision-makers seek increasingly rich, actionable
data insights.
“COVID-19 has vastly accelerated
a global digital transformation toward a more data-driven future,” said Lori
MacVittie, Principal Technical Evangelist, Office of the CTO at F5.
“Today, we’re seeing many more
decision-makers from the financial services realm embracing the public cloud
and SaaS, rapidly ramping up AI operations (AIOps), and seeking application
security and delivery technologies that are easy to deploy and provide data for
decision-making.”
Application modernization marks digital expansion
F5’s
SOAS analysis revealed that finanial services organizations stand out as the
leaders in digital expansion, with a focus on business process automation,
orchestration, and the creation of more seamless digital experiences. A full
70% of financial services organizations are at this level, which is the most of
any industry. Although already in a leadership position, financial services
organizations also reported a 13% jump in automation and orchestration efforts,
as well as a notable 40% increase in application modernization, compared to
last year.
Significantly,
more than four of five financial services respondents (83%) said that they were
modernizing applications, particularly those associated with IT service desk
and customer service functions, with finance close behind.
Nearly
three-quarters (71%) of respondents are also using API technology to modernize
apps, which is s higher proportion than other industries. At the same time, financial
services organizations published considerably more APIs than any other
vertical, partly driven by the movement toward open banking. Developments of
this nature saw the percentage of financial services respondents reporting
volumes of over 10 million API calls per month increase from 10% in 2020 to 48%
in 2021.
As
a result, financial services organizations are more likely to have implemented
an API security solution. More than two-thirds of respondents (69%) reported
having a solution in place or are planning to implement one within the year. 83%
- again the highest of any surveyed industry – have, or will soon have, an API
gateway in place.
In
addition, financial services organizations handling more than 10 million API
calls per month are more than twice as likely to have deployed an API security
solution (82%) as those handling fewer than 1 million API calls per month
(32%). Deployment momentum is expected to accelerate as modernization proceeds.
Complex Multi-Cloud Strategies Have Become
the Norm
According
to the SOAS findings, 21% of financial services respondents expect to increase
their public cloud deployments, compared to just 15% of other respondents.
The
vast majority will continue to manage both traditional and modern applications
and architectures. 87% of survey respondents say they juggle both, which is an
11-point jump compared to last year. Indeed, most financial services
organizations are operating more architectures than ever, with nearly half
managing five different architectures – a full 30 points higher than in 2020.
The SOAS report also found that 9% of financial services
organizations are already hosting application security and delivery technology
at the edge. 66% are planning edge
deployments within the next year, although the figure for all other industries
is slightly higher at 76%. Security
and related compliance issues, which can involve assets the organization
doesn’t control, are likely contributors to such hesitancy. SOAS concludes
that, as edge programming develops, financial services organizations are more likely
to embrace the technology with more purpose.
Application
security and delivery technologies must apply everywhere
Approximately
two-thirds of financial services respondents apply response time, uptime, and
service reliability SLAs to the components that modernize applications (such as
APIs). Service reliability, in particular, aligns with business outcomes, and
95% of financial services organizations believe data from their application
delivery and security solutions is “important” to keep IT aligned with business
outcomes.
Three-quarters
of financial services organizations (76%) now view protecting customer data as
a primary benefit of application security and delivery solutions, which
explains a relative reluctance to host those technologies in the cloud. Only
57% currently do so, compared to 70% of all other respondents.
The
multi-cloud availability of application security and delivery solutions is clearly
a top priority in the financial services industry, as 92% report that
application security solutions are equally important to deploy in the cloud and
in on-premises data centers.
“The
greater importance financial services places on multi-cloud availability
probably reflects both the growing percentage of organizations managing
multiple architectures and the desire to simplify management of critical
applications across environments,” MacVittie explained.
Financial
Services Organizations Have Data but Lack Insights
While the financial services industry is
moving at pace in most areas, only 5% of respondents indicated that
their IT employees have all the automation and orchestration skills required. At
the time of the report’s publication, 98% said they are missing insights they
need, particularly for application
issues, performance degradations, and possible attacks.
The SOAS report posits that, for most financial services
organizations, there is a growing need for more telemetry and the tools needed
to put it to use, as well as cultural changes across business units using the
insights for strategic decisions.
AI deployment will improve
adaptability
Elsewhere in the report, a full 81% of
financial services organizations revealed
that they are using AI, or are planning to by the end of 2022.
Despite
this, and although a majority of organizations feel they have the toolsets they
need, nearly 50% see toolset integration and a skills deficit as enduring
challenges. Consequently, 48% of
financial services organizations say they treat infrastructure as code and, those
that do, are twice as likely to deploy it more frequently, even when
using automation. They are also four times more likely to have fully automated
application pipelines, and twice as likely to use them to deploy half of their
application portfolios.
Next steps
“Financial
services organizations have greatly accelerated their digital transformations
in the past year,” added MacVittie.
“To
make further progress toward AI-enabled business, they need an application
strategy that includes application security and delivery technology solutions
that follow the apps across multiple environments, including the edge. Expect
to see the management of multiple architectures continue as the norm, even as modernization
proceeds, which makes multi-cloud availability ever more critical. Only
easy-to-use, multi-cloud solutions can deliver the telemetry needed to uncover
insights and enable the AIOps that will deliver on the promise of digital
transformation with improved customer experiences and stronger bottom-line
performances.”
دراسة جديدة: 70% من مؤسسات الخدمات المالية هي مؤسسات رائدة في جهود التوسع والتطور الرقمي
100% من مؤسسات الخدمات المالية التي شملتها الدراسة تدعم حالياً جهود التحول الرقمي لديها
دبي، الإمارات العربية المتحدة، 26 يوليو 2021: أشار تقرير استراتيجية حالة التطبيقات السنوي السابع لشركة F5 إلى أنّ قطاع الخدمات المالية هو الأكثر تفاؤلاً حيال عمليات التحول الرقمي من بين جميع القطاعات الصناعية الأخرى.
وخلص التقرير إلى أن 100% من مؤسسات الخدمات المالية التي شملتها الدراسة تدعم حالياً جهود التحول الرقمي لديها، مقارنة مع 84% للعام الماضي.
كما أفاد التقرير أن ما يقارب من 75% من الشركات تعمل حالياً بشكل وثيق على أتمتة العمليات التشغيلية، وأن معظم هذه الشركات تتطلع للاستفادة من الأعمال القائمة على الذكاء الاصطناعي. وفي الوقت ذاته، باتت عمليات "القياس عن بعد" تحظى باهتمام متزايد في ظل السعي الحثيث لصناع القرار للاستفادة من الرؤى الغنية للبيانات القابلة للتحليل.
وقالت لوري ماكفيتي، الخبيرة التقنية الأولى لدى شركة F5: "لقد أسهمت جائحة كوفيد – 19 بتسريع عمليات التحول الرقمي العالمية وتمركزها حول المستقبل القائم على البيانات". وأضافت: "بتنا نرى اليوم قيام المزيد من صانعي القرار في مجال الخدمات المالية بتبني تقنيات السحابة العامة والبرمجيات المقدمة كخدمة (SaaS)، ويبذلون المزيد من الجهود للاستفادة من العمليات التشغيلية القائمة على الذكاء الاصطناعي (AIOps)، ويسعون لاعتماد أفضل تقنيات أمن وحلول تسليم التطبيقات التي يمكن تنفيذها بسهولة لتزويدهم بالبيانات والرؤى التي تمكنهم من اتخاذ القرارات المستنيرة".
وباتت مسألة توفير أمن التطبيقات وحلول تسليم التطبيقات على السحابة المتعددة تمثل أولوية قصوى لصناعة الخدمات المالية؛ حيث أكد 92% من المشاركين في الدراسة أهمية نشر حلول أمن التطبيقات في السحابة وفي مراكز البيانات المادية.
وكشفت تحليلات شركة F5 الخاصة بتقرير استراتيجية حالة التطبيقات أن مؤسسات الخدمات المالية برزت كمؤسسات رائدة في عمليات التوسع الرقمي، إذ تركز هذه المؤسسات على أتمتة عمليات الأعمال، والتنسيق، بهدف تزويد عملائها بتجارب رقمية أكثر سهولة وراحة. وأفاد التقرير أن 70% من مؤسسات الخدمات المالية تقع ضمن هذه الفئة، وهي النسبة الأعلى مقارنة مع القطاعات الصناعية الأخرى. كما سجلت مؤسسات الخدمات المالية أيضاً ارتفاعاً بنسبة 13% في جهود الأتمتة والتنسيق، وشهدت زيادة كبيرة بنسبة 40% في جهود تحديث التطبيقات، مقارنة بالعام الماضي.
كما أكد أكثر من أربعة من أصل خمسة مشاركين في الدراسة من المتخصصين في مجال الخدمات المالية (83%) قيامهم بتحديث التطبيقات، لا سيما تلك المرتبطة بمكتب دعم خدمات تكنولوجيا المعلومات، ووظائف خدمة العملاء.
ووفقاً لنتائج تقرير استراتيجية حالة التطبيقات، توقع 21% من مؤسسات الخدمات المالية المشاركة زيادة عمليات نشر السحابة العامة لديهم، مقارنة مع 15% من باقي المشاركين في الدراسة.
