While the industry has been talking about artificial intelligence, it should really be discussing topics such as open source development, argued Virginie O'Shea, research director, Aite Group, at The Network Forum in Athens.
O'Shea explained: “Looking at the maturity of open source adoption, it is just as important to the industry as any other technology words that we have been talking about.”
O'Shea advised the industry to look at and think about what is going on in this space and noted that many in the market are consuming open source but not necessarily giving it back.
One bank, who preferred to remain unnamed, is currently doing work in the open source realm and learning the technology as they go. The speaker revealed that everything they’re working on is being tracked, as there is risk and liability if you don’t track.
According to O'Shea, open source and the community are helping firms to find and attract experienced technology talent “uber engineers”.
O'Shea said: “To be really effective, digital transformation has to be really boring—small problems need to be solved.”
“It is about innovation but with a defiant change agenda and trying to push through change. It is assumed that technology will change problems but, unfortunately, it doesn’t solve much at all.”
“Hotspots include data analytics, client lifecycle management, operational efficiency, and user experience. Data is pretty poorly managed overall, the user experience could be improved, and operational efficiency has issues—why should have a large custodian have seven or eight systems?”
O'Shea explained: “Being in a regulated industry and the challenges associated with trying to understand exactly what software is in use today is hard and one tool does not bring us all of this information.”
She added: “Regulators can be particularly aggressive in asking why you are doing something and the choices you make.”
The topic of governance was also discussed, and a speaker explained that without proper governance management level visibility of the benefits and hence buy-in to projects beyond limited areas can be hard to attain.
Additionally, a lack of consistency in approach across business units can mean wasted resources and efforts as a result of lack of proper governance management level visibility.
According to O'Shea, as well as this, operational risk and legal risk around the intellectual property can be increased.
She also noted that technology due diligence work requires specialist understanding and metrics to measure success and prove to clients and business stakeholders is currently missing.
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