More than 75% of Financial Services Leaders Want to Stop Using Excel as their Main Analytical Engine Within Two Years, According to New Survey from Hakkoda

A new survey from Hakkoda, the cloud data experts, found that 76% of financial services leaders want to pivot away from Microsoft Excel as their main analytical engine within two years. Furthermore, 62% of financial services leaders and 73% of risk management financial leaders admit Excel isn’t always enough to handle their work. Three out of four respondents say they’ve started a project in Excel only to later realize that it wasn’t enough for the job.

Commissioned by Hakkoda in September 2022, an independent market research firm surveyed 150 financial services leaders about the technologies driving their data and their growth. Key failure points listed by the survey respondents include its inability to handle big data or complex calculations, support remote collaboration, provide data visualization, and deliver real-time insights. When asked if they would rather be stuck in an elevator for three hours or do another internal rate of return (IRR) report in Excel, 42% of respondents chose the elevator.

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While 73% of financial services leaders say AI is the best way to turn their data into action, only 48% say they are close to being ready to implement it. This can also hurt recruiting efforts, as 59% of financial services leaders say using Excel has stifled their ability to attract and hire entry-level staff because new recruits want to work with a more modern tech stack.

Financial institutions are heavily divided by business lines and rarely lean into their own IT groups. This survey found that only 44% of financial services leaders claim to have a strong close working relationship with their technology teams. Yet, 73% of financial leaders say they are dependent on their IT team for reporting and open access to data, and 84% want data reports and visibility without needing help from IT.

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“Financial services firms are moving faster than ever before to unlock the value of the vast amount of data sprawled across the institution,” said Anand Pandya, Global Head of Financial Services for Hakkoda. “Financial services leaders are making long-term decisions in short timeframes and finding that Microsoft Excel isn’t up to the job. This survey confirms our belief that even ‘power users’ are finding Excel too limiting and fragile to compete in today’s market.”

Hakkoda’s services were designed from the ground up to deliver faster results to customers. Its subscription-based scalable teams model offers customers on-demand access to experts specializing in data migration, architecture, analytics, engineering, machine learning, governance and application development, to be applied in areas where skills are most needed. Hakkoda’s seasoned financial services consultants take a collaborative approach with clients and know that how clients use their data often determines the agility and innovation of the business.

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