FinTech Industry Pressures Banks to Meet Customer Demands by Addressing Digital Skills Gap at Scale

New report from Eightfold AI spotlights specific opportunities for banks to upskill IT workforces by identifying skill adjacencies and talent potential

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Eightfold AI

Feb 15, 2022, 09:00 ET

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eightfold AI, the provider of the Talent Intelligence Platform™, today announced the publication of a new Eightfold Talent Insights Report, "How Banks Can Become Future Ready". Eightfold garnered insights from its Talent Intelligence platform, a deep-learning platform powered by the largest global talent dataset, to analyze workforce trends in traditional banking and benchmark them against the competing FinTech talent landscape. The results suggest banking institutions can only meet digital transformation goals by upskilling existing talent, calibrating roles with emerging skills, and hiring for potential.

These new insights from Eightfold reveal the industry is approaching a critical moment in its digital transformation journey. In order to tackle trends such as the increased use of AI and big data, the growing importance of cybersecurity, advancements in Cloud computing and open-banking APIs, and the rise of blockchain technology, banks need to rethink their talent strategies – and do so quickly.

While banking organizations have made significant strides in meeting the digital demands of customers, the industry continues to face challenges when establishing digital-first talent strategies, with only 15 percent of the top in-demand skills currently being employed within their IT workforces. Competing with FinTechs (and sometimes Big Techs) requires banking institutions to hire and build talent with the following skills-based approach:

Upskill and reskill to help bridge the skills gap between rising and declining skills within every role. This requires a particular focus on equipping IT employees with rising skills such as Python, Docker, node.js, and Machine Learning. Developing future-ready Front and Middle Office employees requires a focus on rising skills such as Digital Sales, Data Analysis, and Business Intelligence.
Calibrate roles with future skills and consider emerging skills from outside the industry (e.g., Big Tech companies) to fulfill skill requirements.
Adopt a "hiring for potential" mindset by analyzing who has potential to learn the most in-demand skills, whether they are external or internal candidates, which further expands the qualified talent network.

"Considering the role that banks will play in a global economic recovery, they must become more diverse and draw from a larger pool of talent in order to continue their momentum. They are now competing with entire ecosystems of tech organizations for the same pool of talent," said Kamal Ahluwalia, President of Eightfold AI. "Future-thinking institutions must scale their investments in talent in order to maintain their strategic advantage."

Eightfold partners with leading banks including BNY Mellon and Capital One to rethink how they hire, manage, and develop employees.

For this transformation guide on "How Banks Can Become Future Ready," the analysis leveraged Eightfold's global dataset and considered publicly available profiles from major banking corporations as well as FinTech companies for benchmarking purposes. Full methodology can be found within the report.

About Eightfold AI

Eightfold AI® delivers the Talent Intelligence Platform™, the most effective way for organizations to retain top performers, upskill and reskill the workforce, recruit top talent efficiently, and reach diversity goals. Eightfold AI's deep learning artificial intelligence platform has been issued numerous patents based on its ability to empower enterprises to transform their talent into a competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.eightfold.ai.

SOURCE Eightfold AI