Financial Services Sector Most Innovative

According to a report from BT Global Services, the UK financial services sector has been the most technologically innovate during the economic downturn.This was divined by a survey of of board-level executives from large companies, that despite the sectors suffering from the recession for the longest period when compared against five other sectors (retail, transport, logistics, fast-moving consumer goods and the public sector), 92 per cent of respondents in financial services indicated that they were investing in at least one of the listed technologies - Network technology, outsourcing technology, tele/video conferencing, flexible working, sustainable/green technology, automated customer contact, cloud computing/SaaS technology. According to the press release that accompanied the announcement: Despite reports that the financial crisis has brought many IT projects and investments to a standstill, a good proportion of financial institutions did not feel that the recession had stifled their priorities towards spending on core technology requirements for their business. An impressive 52 per cent of financial institutions indicated that they were investing money in faster/more reliable network technology in order to maximise their recovery. Presumably many companies are investing in technology because they have fired all their workers. PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated that up to 60,000 jobs could be lost in the financial services sector in 2009.Andy Nicholson, Vice President global banking & financial markets, BT said: Among the financial community, CTOs and CIOs are looking for ways to create leaner, increasingly cost-efficient infrastructures without compromising their business models. Leaner would be the operative word.