IT firms urged to cash in on financial services spending boom
Analyst giants bet on finance firms and banks as the next big spenders on cloud and overall IT
The IT industry has been told to prepare for a wave of IT investment from financial services firms, which are starting to heavily invest in cloud technology for the first time.
According to IDC, financial firms will significantly up their spending on IT next year and analyst Ovum said increased cloud security will drive the finance sector's investment in that technology too.
According to IDC's new Worldwide IT Spending Guide, global financial services firms' IT spending will top $430bn (£265bn) next year, half of which will come from banks alone.
It added that capital market firms will invest $110bn globally in IT in 2014 while insurance companies will spend $100bn worldwide too next year.
Karen Massey, senior banking analyst and IDC Financial Insights said that financial firms' investments will focus on improved efficiency.
"Bankers continue to be selective with IT initiatives, focusing on those that can deliver value to their clients and the organisation, while also satisfying the mandate of reducing costs and improving efficiency," she said.
"Expect to see projects around risk and compliance, core and infrastructure modernisation, customer experience, and security, which are lifting our otherwise tempered forecasts."
Clouds lifting
Financial businesses have been locked out of cloud computing in the past due to security fears, according to Ovum, which said that increased cloud safety is opening the market up for them.
Ovum's research said that both buy-side firms - those which advise companies on buying investment services - and sell-side companies - those which advise the sale of investment services - are coming round to cloud.
"The research highlights that although the capital markets aren't fully integrated with the cloud, this situation is set to change in the coming years," it said.
"Due to improvements in cloud security and a wider variety of applications, investment in cloud, by both the buy side and the sell side, is set for further growth."
Ovum added that at the moment, buy-side businesses tend to be an easier target for cloud technology as target companies are usually smaller with tighter IT budgets but that sell-side firms have become better targets since the global financial crisis began.
Rik Turner, Ovum's senior analyst of financial services technology added: "Cloud services adoption in the capital markets has increased in the last few years. In the future, there will be an even faster uptake of cloud services."