IDC Financial Insights: Middle East and Africa Banking IT Strategies provides an in-depth analysis of IT and digital transformation in the financial services sector in select countries of the Middle East and Africa. The program helps technology vendors identify, understand, and address opportunities in the financial services sector by sizing IT spending, analyzing development trends, and assessing the competitive environment. Special focus is given to sector areas with substantial ICT investments and examination of the pain points and circumstances that drove uptake and upgrades. Intended for IT vendors and investors, this service delivers essential thought leadership for grasping current and emerging opportunities.

IDC Financial Insights analysts examine opportunities from the customer and IT vendor perspectives to unpack operational and strategic factors driving the efficient and effective use of technology in financial organizations. They conduct extensive user surveys and maintain ongoing communications with industry experts and IT decision makers to identify challenges faced by IT departments of financial institutions. They use secondary research from conferences, publications, and third-party news sources to note how different technologies can help them achieve business goals and to ensure that they are on top of the latest developments in ICT that are taking place in the financial industry.

Throughout the year, this service will address the following topics:

• Assessment of the size of the financial services market with respect to IT spending (hardware, software, and services)
• Drivers and inhibitors of IT uptake and digital transformation in financial services
• The key focus areas for IT investments by banks
• The adoption of the 3rd Platform (mobility, cloud, big data analytics, and social media) in banking
• The trends in innovation accelerator (Internet of Things [IoT], robotics, cognitive, AR/VR, and 3D printing) intake among banks
• The need for IT security and how banks are dealing with it
• The influence of line of business in technology investments and the presence of shadow IT
• Geographic coverage includes the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, and other Middle East and African countries

Our research addresses the following issues that are critical to your success:

• How much are financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa spending on IT by country?
• What are the specifics of and unique dynamics within banking in the Middle East and Africa?
• What are the latest trends in digital transformation, IT usage, and adoption in the financial sector, especially in the 3rd Platform?
• What is the IT procurement strategy within financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa, and how are their expectations changing?
• How is the influence of line of business affecting the IT spending?

IDC Financial Insights: Middle East and Africa Banking IT Strategies is ideally suited to support the marketing and sales departments and the financial product, solution, and services managers of IT vendors targeting the financial services sector in the Middle East and Africa