NZ finance leaders struggle with outdated data & AI challenges

According to an international study from AI company ActiveOps, 94% of financial operations leaders in New Zealand find it significantly challenging to extract meaningful insights from their data. The study further reveals that 84% of these leaders do not fully trust their data, and 40% are compelled to work with data that is over two weeks old. These findings highlight notable obstacles in the implementation and utilisation of AI within the financial sector in New Zealand.

The survey, conducted by Censuswide and commissioned by ActiveOps, obtained responses from Chief Operating Officers, Chief Financial Officers, and Senior Heads of Operations within New Zealand’s financial services industry. While four in five respondents believe that access to real-time data could dramatically improve cost control and risk mitigation, at least 40% acknowledge a deficiency in the data environment necessary to support real-time analytics. Such a shortfall not only hampers performance and decision-making capabilities but also complicates the pathway to effective AI adoption.

The report, titled "Ready Or Not AI Is Here," indicates that New Zealand’s financial services institutions lack the necessary data environment to support advanced AI initiatives. For AI to reach its full potential, data must be current, accurately classified, and accessible across the organisation, rather than isolated within departmental silos. Failure to meet these criteria results in data irrelevance, a challenge currently faced by many organisations in New Zealand.

Despite these difficulties, enthusiasm for AI within the sector remains high. The survey notes that 66% of organisations are already at advanced or very advanced stages of AI usage. However, the lack of accessible, real-time, trusted data continues to be a significant obstacle. Nearly all respondents (94%) report struggling to derive meaningful insights from their data, and 84% identify a lack of data trust as a barrier to effective decision-making.

The study also highlights the broader implications of this issue, noting that it is not unique to New Zealand. The research, which included participants from countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, found that globally, 98% of respondents experience considerable challenges in adopting AI for data-related tasks.

Anna Itsiopoulos, Managing Director, APAC at ActiveOps, commented on the findings: “Financial operations leaders in New Zealand are clearly bought into AI and believe in its game-changing potential. However, there is a limit to what AI can achieve without the right kind of data environment, as these organisations are now finding out. Data needs to be cleansed, classified and made securely accessible across the organisation if the true potential of AI-driven decision-making is to be realised. That means instead of starting with AI, businesses ought to be starting with their data, laying a solid foundation that ensures their AI initiatives aren’t built on sand.”

Key findings from the report include that 84% of respondents believe that trusted data would enable more effective decision-making, and four in five think that access to real-time data would enhance cost control and risk mitigation. Notably, 40% are forced to make decisions based on data older than two weeks, and 94% acknowledge the significant effort required to gain insights from their existing data.

The survey involved over 850 senior executives from the financial services sector across seven countries, undertaken to understand their priorities for 2024, the challenges they face with their operational data, and the status of AI adoption. The research was conducted between February and March 2024 by Censuswide, which adheres to principles laid out by the Market Research Society and the British Polling Council.