The "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly stated that financial technology should be developed steadily and the digital transformation of financial institutions should be accelerated. Banking is the main body of China's financial industry. Accelerating the digital transformation and vigorously developing digital finance by banking institutions is not only an inevitable requirement for the rapid development of digital economy, but also an inherent need for deepening the structural reform of the supply side and enhancing its competitiveness.
In recent years, banking institutions have generally accelerated the application of financial technology and continuously increased investment in digital transformation. Is its digital transformation strategy scientific? Is the investment in network finance and information technology reasonable? This requires banks to evaluate and evaluate the digital transformation from both internal and external dimensions.
First of all, it is necessary to evaluate the digital transformation of banks.
At present, the digital transformation of the banking industry is entering the deep water area, and the investment in business and technology is increasing year by year. Under this background, it is timely, necessary and important to carry out digital transformation evaluation.
For banking institutions, the evaluation and evaluation of digital transformation may have four functions. First, it will help to implement the requirements of financial management departments. Since 2021, the financial management department has successively issued the Financial Science and Technology Development Plan (2022-2025) (hereinafter referred to as the Development Plan) and the Guiding Opinions on the Digital Transformation of Banking and Insurance Industry (hereinafter referred to as the Guiding Opinions), etc., to comprehensively deploy the digital transformation of financial institutions. Among them, the Development Plan specifically proposes "strengthening monitoring and evaluation" and the Guiding Opinions require "establishing and improving the evaluation and assessment system of digital transformation management".
Second, it helps to control "digital transformation anxiety". There is a widespread "digital transformation anxiety" in the banking industry. For example, some institutions have formulated grand digital transformation strategies regardless of resource endowments, lacking clear implementable paths; Although some institutions attach great importance to digital transformation in form, their organizational structure and culture are still standing still, and the transformation effect is difficult to consolidate. Calibrating the direction and path of digital transformation through digital transformation evaluation will fundamentally overcome anxiety and blind behavior.
Third, it helps to optimize the investment in digital transformation. In recent years, banking institutions have generally increased their investment in digital transformation. According to estimates, in 2022, the investment in banking information technology exceeded 300 billion yuan, of which six large banks totaled about 120 billion yuan. However, some institutions are divorced from the actual needs and have built a bunch of "high-level" information technology systems, which are powerful but wasteful. Through the evaluation of digital transformation, analyzing the investment direction, structure and effect will promote the effectiveness of various resource allocation.
