Don’t sell workplace culture short in buying a startup
With the growth of digital technologies, financial services organizations are facing a widening gap between the skills they have in their workforce and the ones they need. Systems and applications that are relevant one day are increasingly irrelevant the next, as new innovations influence digital trends and behaviors in unpredictable ways.
Yet banks find themselves in tight competition with technology giants and startups for talent with expertise in software development, data science, cybersecurity, user experience design and other digital competencies. Nearly 75% of financial services chief executives see the limited availability of skills they need in their workforce as a threat to their business. Retail banks, in particular, are struggling with this skills gap — 62% of banking organizations report that the gap between the skills they need and the ones they have has grown in recent years, a larger share than any other industry.
In an increasingly digital industry, banks will have to make up this shortage in digital skills, or face losing customers to competitors with deeper expertise in them. These skills include software development and operation, known as “devops,” along with machine-learning engineering, product management, user experience design and agile development. Collectively, having these skills translates to better customer experience and insights — the exact factors that banks will compete on in a digital environment.
But there’s an emerging strategy that banks can use to address the tech talent shortage: acquir-hires, or acquiring startups for the purpose of gaining their workforce talent.
Keep reading on American Banker.
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