HFS Research Launches Banking & Financial Services Practice defining the post-pandemic vision for the industry

New York and London, June 18, 2021: HFS Research is pleased to announce the launch of its Banking and Financial Services practice. As enterprises around the world grapple with how to best take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity for change, one thing is for certain: the path to the OneOffice and digital transformation varies wildly by industry.

Exhibit 1 makes this point in spades – showcasing fresh from the field data from our semi-annual Pulse survey of 800 global business leaders. With this in mind, HFS is doubling-down on its industry research focus to deliver the same caliber of unbiased and impactful insights you’ve come to expect from us for IT and business process services and emerging tech, delivered through the industry lens.

Our very own Elena Christopher will lead the new practice, supported by the global HFS analyst team. She is informed by more than two decades of collaboration and advisory with financial services firms across banking, capital markets, and regulatory compliance. In Elena’s own words “For the love of God, we need to get more specific about what we mean by digital transformation and how to achieve it. Many sub-segments of the financial services sector were 100% certain they were digitally transformed pre-pandemic. It took a global pandemic to lay bear the precise lack of connectivity between lovely front-end customer engagement tools and the myriad of back-office systems that actually run banks. We want to help the BFS sector contextualize the journey to the OneOffice and get specific about how to get there. And we’ll try not to say ‘cloud’ too many times.”

Planned areas of coverage for the balance of 2021 include:

• The best services partners to help BFS firms on their digital transformation journeys. HFS will release the BFS 2021 Top 10 in June 2021. This anxiously awaited report assesses and stack ranks the capabilities of the leading global service providers on their ability to meet the needs of BFS firms across execution, innovation, OneOffice alignment, and voice of the customer criteria.
• The state of the union for all trends BFS. Our BFS Industry Primer will provide a detailed look at demand-side trends supported by the latest and greatest HFS Pulse data, supply-side trends, and the most impactful emerging tech use cases – anchored with our Industry Health check. Q3 2021.
• Contextual cloud in financial services. If you’re doing cloud well in financial services you’re probably not talking about the cloud – you’re talking infrastructure, apps, and data (hopefully not in that order). We’ll support this critical research area with a series of reports and related amplification events throughout the year ranging from event-driven coverage of announcements, demand-side research, voice of the customer research where we spotlight enterprise cloud journeys in financial services, a Top 10 Snapshot of cloud services in BFS, rounded out with webinars and roundtables.
• The role of emerging tech in BFS – the Triple-A and DeFi. We’ll examine the intersection of emerging tech such as AI, automation, analytics (the HFS Triple-A Trifecta) and how it’s helping BFS firms drive meaningful changes in how work is done, customers are engaged, and ecosystems are enabled. We’ll also look at the future of finance with a critical lens on the inevitable path towards decentralized finance
• Fintechs – from start-up to scale-up to established. We look at the role of fintech firms in the financial services ecosystem from the standpoint of how enterprises partner with them, how service providers co-innovate with them, and how the fintechs themselves are maturing and creating new market opportunities. And we are always on the lookout for the next big product or services firm to feature as an HFS Hot Vendor.

Commenting on the new HFS Chief Executive Officer, Phil Fersht added “HFS has been engaging with thousands of enterprise leaders in the banking and financial services industry for over a decade and it’s a landmark day when we can dedicate an analyst of Elena’s caliber to be the Research Leader for the practice. We are passionate and excited to roll out a visionary program backed by the most expansive demand-side research in the industry.”

Bottom Line: The rubber hits the road when you look at the world through the industry lens. It’s time to stop talking in buzzwords and generalities and get specific. Industry-specific.

Pictured:  Elena Christopher, Research Leader, Banking & Financial Services Practice, HFS Research

About HFS Research

Founded in 2010 by Phil Fersht, widely recognized as the world’s leading industry analyst focused on the convergence of business operations and technology, HFS Research has consistently delivered advice brimming with insight that inspires impact for our clients and the industry as a whole.

With over 40 global analysts and more than 500 years of combined experience, we remain laser-focused on helping our clients realize long-term value through business, process, and technological transformation. We publish more than 300 reports every year, produce 100+ events and conferences annually, and work closely with more than 500 clients around the world. Our research is grounded in primary data from one-on-one discussions with enterprise leaders and more than 10,000 surveys conducted annually across the Global 2000.

To learn more about HFS BFS Practice, please email banking@hfsresearch.com

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