IT for Growth

In 2007, successful technology executives will focus on how to make information technology contribute more to earnings growth. More than 60 percent of CIOs surveyed by Accenture indicate that engaging the business to help improve IT delivery is their highest priority. In order to achieve higher performance, financial services companies will increasingly attempt to improve integration across the supply chain (not just internally) and meet consumer-style expectations for agility, productivity and standards. Technology executives must be leaders in this trend, which will require increased adoption of service-oriented architectures (SOA) and greater alignment between business and IT objectives.

The development of true integration standards, broad industry backing, and the uptake in process orchestration technology and standards are three key reasons financial services companies are likely to embrace SOA in 2007. Done correctly, SOA will empower IT to drive differentiated business capabilities, such as faster time to market and improved collaboration with customers and suppliers.