Data management tools are the top priority for firms who are investing in their workflow across front, middle and back offices, research found.

Broadridge Financial Solutions found that 98% of 200 financial services professionals it surveyed were investing in front-to-back workflow and just over a quarter – the highest amount – cited data management tools as their highest priority.

Vijay Mayadas, president of Capital Markets at Broadridge, said firms were “drowning in the complexity of managing and simplifying data” without the appropriate technology and digital infrastructures in place.

This was “stifling transparency, agility and growth”, Mayadas added.

A total of 57% of respondents confirmed that financial firms still have progress to make before they reach the advanced stages of innovation and technology efforts, Broadridge said.

The research was conducted at the recent SIFMA Operations Conference in May 2022, which took place in the US. 

The survey also showed that firms are also investing in AI and automation (23%), more human capital (13%), cloud-native capabilities (10%) for uniformity, and blockchain technologies (8%) to improve overall efficiencies.

Over 90% of firms are facing challenges around effective data use, Broadrdige said, with legacy or outdated technology standing out as the biggest hurdle that firms face (27%), followed by poor data quality (23%). 

Broadridge also said that, after a year of job-hopping and The Great Resignation, it comes as “no surprise that firms are also having a hard time finding the human capital to effectively leverage data. Nearly one-fifth (19%) say they’re experiencing an inability to quickly test, onboard, validate or maintain datasets”.

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