Major FinTech investments occur every six months in financial institutions, with 21% of them valued at $10m or more, according to research released today by CCgroup, a London-based B2B technology PR consultancy.
The research ‘How to influence FinTech buyers’ also found that almost 75% of all IT
Financial institutions make at least one major technology investment of $100,000+ every six months
investment decisions in financial institutions involve up to 20 people, with 15% involving 50 people or more.
The need for insight
The financial services industry is growing rapidly, underpinned by these regular, sizable investments in technology. Ovum predicts global IT spend in financial services will increase by 4.8% in 2014, rising to $100 billion by 2018.
However, despite the spending appetite and opportunity, marketers within FinTech companies are working ‘blind’, lacking quantitative data on how decision makers at financial institutions identify and select technology vendors – and therefore how to target them.
“We were concerned that there was very little scientific understanding about how buyers at financial institutions researched and selected vendors,” said Daniel Lowther, Head of FinTech at CCgroup. “So we took it upon ourselves to provide it.”
CCgroup partnered with independent research agency MRops to interview senior decision makers regarding what influences their selection of technology vendor at different stages of the purchasing process from large global financial institutions. 50% of respondents were from companies employing at least 25,000 people, and 34% of those interviewed were a Board Member, President or a C-level executive.
Sealing the deal
CCgroup’s unique research uncovered several driving factors behind senior decision makers’ IT purchasing decisions. In particular, those questioned listed the three most important factors in the purchasing decision as:
- Value (26.06%)
- Service support (15.76%)
- Efficiency of implementation (13.33%)
The purchase decision process is one of consensus, with more than three out of four decisions involving up to 20 people. It is therefore imperative that a supplier demonstrates value to a diverse and demanding buying audience, whether marketing, payments, compliance, security or investment-related technology.
What is lacking
However, when it comes to sealing the deal, there is a lot of information that financial institutions would like to see, but are largely not being offered. These are:
- Hard evidence that the vendor has experience in delivering to similar companies
- Customer references and case studies
- Industry feedback
- Demonstrable track record
“Our research shows that proof points, industry track record, and a demonstrable evidence of value for money are paramount if companies are to be considered at the final stage of purchase,” said Daniel Lowther, Head of FinTech at CCgroup.
“Vendors and their marketing teams need to ensure that their communications are relevant and targeted at different job functions within a financial institution. This will be the difference between multi-million dollar contracts and failure.”
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