Financial services organizations propel economic growth. Never before has this been more clear than in the last 12 months, as we have witnessed the global economy react to the difficulties faced by this industry. In fact, U.S. financial services exports represent one-sixth of the world market.
For these companies, getting back on track and improving margins is critical to their success, as well as all of Wall Street. In Gartner’s 2007 survey, executives reported that their top objectives were to improve business services, control enterprise cost structure, and retain customers. These issues combined with an ever-tightening regulatory environment and human resource issues can make today’s marketplace extremely challenging.
For CFOs looking to address these issues quickly and with strong ROI, SaaS may be the answer. SaaS addresses these five concerns in very specific ways:
Getting Solutions that Meet Real Needs
You don’t need your MBA to know that streamlined processes mean gains all around. But even before implementation, SaaS can speed things up by facilitating decision making through the ability for companies to try out complete production systems during early stages of development. This means that they can set requirements based real capabilities, rather than a wish list that may turn out to be not at all what they really need. The end result is a system not only gets up and running quickly, but is assured to meet requirements out of the gate.
This experience also lets organizations exercise flexibility on how business requirements are met. Hands-on experience is provided to the people who work directly with the SaaS vendor and have responsibility for the business process of the proposed service, all done well before a system has been implemented. This involvement means implementing best practices from both the user and vendor side.
Control Costs and Keep Control
Unlike outsourcing, SaaS leaves control of the IT system in the hands of the user organization. However, like outsourcing, it removes the on-going task of maintaining the IT infrastructure from the user organization. The business processes supported by SaaS are still controlled by the company, but with fewer demands on the IT team. This team is then freed up to focus on innovation and customer delivery.
Cost control comes easily, as users can turn on services when they need them and turn the services off when they no longer need them. This also means that strong customer support and services are critical to a long term partnership, providing an incentive for meeting shared goals between vendor and user organization. When executed properly, you use (and pay for) services only when you need them.
Innovate to Improve Customer Service
SaaS brings with it a full and deep range of functionality, offering a host of choices to financial services companies. SaaS vendors have invested heavily in developing solutions for specific issues faced by financial services companies. Business opportunities for both vendors and companies are found in meeting these specific objectives.
Because SaaS solutions have moved beyond keeping records and data to facilitating transactions, many financial services companies are already using SaaS. In fact, the financial sector finds SaaS attractive because in an industry where speed is a key customer need, SaaS is generally much faster to implement than on-premises IT systems.
Additionally, SaaS provides access for smaller companies to technology solutions that were previously only available to the larger players. Because the SaaS vendor bears developments costs, cutting-edge solutions are offered as service at a price point that smaller companies can afford.
Increase Regulatory Compliance
The Institute of Internal Auditors surveyed members this year and found that a sizable percentage (42 percent) of respondents working in the financial services sector felt better risk management practices could have helped prevent their organization’s current financial situation.
Utilizing SaaS helps meet this challenge by automating business processes and providing information and reporting as needed. The ability to create and change business processes, as well as the corresponding reporting, allows executives to maintain regulatory compliance while not encumbering the flow of business.
Meet HR Challenges
Financial services are at its core a business based on intellectual capital. Finding qualified people in a difficult economy can actually be tough. Tighter limits are now set on bonuses and compensation. Qualified individuals are leery of moving to a new company. Budgets for training and development have been slashed to the bone.
Companies are in a race to fill slots in entry-level, administrative, and operational positions such as customer service, check processors, and accounts receivables. Many of these operations can be automated through SaaS, not only decreasing errors, but improving efficiency and meeting difficult HR challenges.
The Answer Seems Clear
While the mantra of management gurus for years has been “do more with less” never before has the marketplace been faced with a more serious challenge to do just that. Management must look to technology solutions to maximize performance of their current business environment. SaaS provides unique solutions to the challenges of financial services organizations, promising a more profitable today and tomorrow.
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For more information, please contact Infocrossing at 866.779.4369.
