The big question on the mind's of today's global financial services executives is, "How do we increase the share of our customers' business, while improving our cost/income ratios?" Financial services firms, which have been impacted in one way or another by the downturn in the economy,are focusing on ways to increase their business share across the different products and services they sell to retail and commercial customers. At the same time, they are working to improve operating efficiencies and decrease costs.
Financial services firms have also become more focused on managing business-concentration and business-continuity risks. Company leaders are seeking more creative solutions for security, disaster recovery and backup, and remote access for their employees. Virtual private networks (VPNs), for example, are attractive to both business and IT leaders in this industry because VPNs enable employees to operate from other offices or their homes in the event of a disaster. Also, firms are more seriously evaluating IP telephony solutions that will allow them to use data networks for voice communication in cases where their voice networks are not available.
