What Financial Leaders Are Looking for in Technology Partners

Financial services leaders are carrying more technology responsibility than ever before.

Today’s CFOs, CIOs, and technology leaders are making decisions that affect growth, efficiency, customer experience, risk management, workforce strategy, and long-term competitiveness.

According to FTI Consulting’s 2026 Global CFO Survey, more than half of CFOs now lead or co-lead enterprise transformation initiatives, while nearly half directly influence AI enablement and digital transformation efforts. At the same time, Insight Global’s 2026 AI Survey found that 89% of executives have experienced at least one stalled AI initiative.

Those realities are changing how financial leaders evaluate technology partners. The conversation has shifted beyond platforms and implementations. Today, organizations are looking for partners who can help them navigate talent shortages, deliver measurable outcomes, and build sustainable capabilities that support future growth.

Partners Who Deliver Outcomes, Not Just Recommendations

Not long ago, financial institutions often selected technology partners based on deep technical expertise or experience with a specific platform. Those qualifications still matter, but they’re no longer enough.

Today’s leaders have no shortage of strategic guidance. What they need is confidence that initiatives will be completed successfully and deliver the intended business results.

That demand is understandable. Research highlighted in BridgeView IT’s analysis of Standish Group and Gartner findings found that only 31% of IT projects are delivered on time, on budget, and within scope. Gartner research cited in the same analysis found that only 48% of digital initiatives meet or exceed their intended business outcomes.

Financial leaders want partners who can help them manage complexity, maintain momentum, and remain accountable from planning through implementation. Whether the initiative involves cloud modernization, AI adoption, cybersecurity improvements, or data transformation, success is increasingly measured by business impact rather than project completion.

RELEVANT: Building Customer Trust Starts with Strong Data Protection

Partners Who Speak the Language of Finance

Technology investments now face the same level of scrutiny as any other major business decision.

For CFOs and executive leadership teams, conversations about technology typically center on questions such as:

How quickly will this create value?
What risks are being reduced?
How will this improve efficiency?
What impact could this have on revenue growth?
What resources are required to sustain it?

Financial leaders are looking for partners who understand those priorities and can connect technical decisions to business outcomes.

That expectation is growing as AI becomes a boardroom discussion. According to the FTI Consulting Survey, 44% of CFOs identify AI leverage as a major driver of enterprise value creation, while 41% view AI-enabled revenue growth and cost management as leading strategic priorities.

The strongest partners help organizations evaluate technology through a business lens, providing clarity around value, timelines, workforce implications, and operational impact.

Partners Who Can Solve the Talent Problem

Technology initiatives rarely fail because the software doesn’t work. More often, organizations struggle because they don’t have the right people in place to support the work.

Financial institutions continue to compete aggressively for data professionals, cloud engineers, AI specialists, cybersecurity experts, and transformation leaders. At the same time, many teams are already stretched thin by modernization efforts, regulatory demands, and evolving customer expectations.

FTI found that 83-85% of CFOs cite talent shortages, complex processes, and uncertainty around AI applications as significant barriers to efficiency. Organizations are also facing growing pressure to help existing employees adapt to new technologies. Meanwhile, Gallup research shows AI usage continues to rise across knowledge-based professions, including financial services.

As a result, technology partner evaluations increasingly include workforce considerations.

Leaders want partners who can help them:

Access hard-to-find technical talent
Upskill and enable existing teams
Fill critical capability gaps
Build sustainable operating models
Scale resources as business needs evolve

This is where the distinction between a traditional vendor and a true strategic partner becomes clear. Technology is only able to drive outcomes if the people layer is present.

Partners Who Prioritize Strong Foundations

AI may dominate headlines, but experienced financial leaders understand that lasting transformation begins with solid fundamentals.

Organizations hoping to accelerate AI adoption often discover that fragmented data, legacy systems, security gaps, and infrastructure limitations create significant obstacles long before advanced use cases can deliver value.

Gartner’s 2026 CIO Agenda identifies cybersecurity, AI, and cloud platforms as the leading technology investment priorities for the year. Those investments are closely connected. Effective AI strategies depend on secure environments, reliable data, and scalable infrastructure.

Financial services organizations are also confronting the challenges of aging technology environments. Legacy systems can limit agility, complicate compliance efforts, and make it more difficult to attract technical talent accustomed to modern platforms and tools.

The most effective partners understand how these pieces fit together. Rather than focusing exclusively on emerging technologies, they help organizations strengthen the foundations that support long-term innovation.

Partners Who Can Move Fast in a Regulated Environment

Speed remains a competitive advantage across banking, insurance, and capital markets. But financial services organizations face a reality that many other industries do not: every transformation initiative must operate within a highly regulated environment.

Technology decisions frequently intersect with cybersecurity requirements, data privacy expectations, regulatory obligations, and audit considerations.

FTI also found that cybersecurity concerns, global uncertainty, and regulatory challenges rank among the top business risks facing executives today. The Federal Reserve’s Financial Stability Report has also reported an increase in the sophistication and interconnected nature of cyber-related financial crime.

Financial leaders are looking for partners who appreciate that compliance cannot be treated as a final checkpoint. It must be incorporated throughout delivery, governance, and operations.

Organizations need partners who can help them move efficiently while maintaining confidence in their risk management approach.

Partners Who Can Grow Alongside the Business

The best technology partnerships aren’t tied to a single project.

Financial institutions are constantly balancing new business priorities, market conditions, regulatory requirements, and emerging technologies. That means today’s needs may look very different a year from now.

Leaders increasingly prefer partners who can support multiple stages of that journey, whether through consulting services, technology delivery teams, managed services, workforce solutions, AI initiatives, or operational support.

The trend toward strategic outsourcing reflects that reality. FTI Consulting reports that 68% of CFOs have finance-related outsourcing initiatives underway, in development, or planned for 2026.

Leaders are looking for flexible partnerships that can evolve alongside their business rather than requiring a new vendor relationship every time priorities change.

Technology Partnership Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage

At the end of the day, financial leaders are looking for partners who understand financial services. They’re looking for partners who can navigate complex regulatory environments and bring the right talent to the table, who can help organizations achieve measurable business outcomes.

Technology decisions have become deeply connected to the innerworkings of an organization. That’s why the most valuable technology partners combine consulting expertise, delivery capabilities, and access to specialized talent.

At Insight Global, we’ve supported more than 450 financial services engagements by helping organizations bring together the people, expertise, and execution needed to move critical initiatives forward. Combined with a 98% client retention rate and an NPS score of 71 among consultants, we’ve built our reputation on creating lasting partnerships that deliver results. Connect with our team to learn more.