December 9, 2013 - Today, IDC Financial Insights hosted a web conference "IDC Financial Insights 2014 Predictions: Worldwide Financial Services" highlighting the top 10 predictions for the year ahead.

Featuring analysts Scott Lundstrom, Michael Araneta,Li-May Chew, Marc DeCastro, Roberto Gutierrez, Alex Kwiatkowski, Karen Massey, Matt Sauer, Jerry Silva, Michael Versace, and James Wester, the session provided organizations with insight and perspective on long-term industry trends along with new themes that may be on the horizon. The Predictions Web Conference series is designed to help company leaders capitalize on emerging market opportunities and plan for future growth.

An audio replay of today's webinar will be available within 24 hours. To access the replay, please visit http://bit.ly/IDCFI_WWFinancial_Predictions2014.

The Top 10 Predictions are:

• Prediction 1: Overall IT Spend in Financial Services Will Exceed $430 Billion in 2014 and Will Exceed $0.5 Trillion by 2020; Consolidation and Cooling Emerging Markets Will Make Impact.
• Prediction 2: Institutions Will Leverage Their Investments of the Past Three Years, Improving Compliance Data Management with New Initiatives to Extract Additional Business and Operational Value with Analytics-Based Capabilities.
• Prediction 3: All Modernization and Improvement Initiatives Will Include Three Components to Be Successful (Technology, People, and Processes); We've Focused Too Long on Technology in a Vacuum, and in 2014, We'll See the IT Organization Become More Important.
• Prediction 4: The Most Successful Financial Institutions in 2014 Will Be Those That Can Deliver an Enhanced Omnichannel Experience to Their Customers and Prospects, Using New Enabling Technologies and Supported by Appropriate Business Processes.
• Prediction 5: Core Transformation Projects Will Create Opportunities for Banks to Out-Innovate Their Peers, Giving Innovators Years of Technology Advantage Over Core Banking Laggards.
• Prediction 6: Consumers Will Become the Disruptors in Financial Services by Minimizing Their Interactions with Their Primary Institution and Increasing the Use of a Variety of Purpose-Built Apps That Provide Immediate and Focused Value.
• Prediction 7: Lured by Their Aggressive Growth in Premiums, Insurers Will Continue to Pay Close Attention to the Emerging Market Nations in Developing Asia/Pacific and Latin America.
• Prediction 8: The Battle for Dominance on the 3rd Platform Will Begin as Firms Move from Ad Hoc, Repeatable Initiatives to Managed Initiatives and New Application Mashups That Target Value Creation in Customer Acquisition, Market Intelligence, and Operations.
• Prediction 9: Investment in Risk Management Information Technologies, Services, and Skills Will Exceed $85 Billion in 2014 as Firms Industrialize Credit and Market Risk System, Operational Risk Disciplines Get Renewed Support, and Management Learns to Sell Risk.
• Prediction 10: Mobile and "Alternative" Payment Adoption Will Remain Muted in 2014 as a Wide Array of Providers Try to Find a Value Proposition That Resonates for Both Merchants and Consumers.

According to Scott Lundstrom, Group Vice President and General Manager, IDC Financial Insights  "As the IT organization continues to struggle with when and where to invest in today’s technology, financial institutions need to balance investing in innovation and providing value for the customer, with placating the regulators."

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