Strategic planning season: AI research for financial services
The decisions that shape the year ahead are being made right now
Planning season is when the biggest investment decisions get made, and this year AI is transforming the strategic planning playbook. We give financial services and insurance leaders the research, benchmarks, and frameworks to go in prepared.
A planning framework built for this cycle
Every planning cycle moves through the same four stages. What’s new for 2027 is how AI changes the questions inside each one, from the current state assessment to how budgets get built and owned.
Current State Assessment
Scan what's changed in the market, competition, and regulation
Strategy
Assess current capabilities and where you stand against peers
Goals & Priorities
Set objectives and decide where to invest for 2027
Execution
Turn goals into roadmaps, budgets, and accountability
The planning journey
A planning framework built for this cycle
Every planning cycle moves through the same four stages. What’s new for 2027 is how AI changes the questions inside each one, from the current state assessment to how budgets get built and owned.
Current State Assessment
Scan what's changed in the market, competition, and regulation
Strategy
Assess current capabilities and where you stand against peers
Goals & Priorities
Set objectives and decide where to invest for 2027
Execution
Turn goals into roadmaps, budgets, and accountability
Webinar
Most AI programs are being budgeted against what vendors charge — but those charges represent only 10% to 20% of what programs cost in production. Join Datos Insights for a session on the true economics of enterprise AI, covering the full cost structure, how to measure returns using metrics leadership will recognize, and how to build a business case that holds up under scrutiny.
Webinar
The Real Cost of AI Deployments: A Framework for Leaders
Most AI programs are being budgeted against what vendors charge — but those charges represent only 10% to 20% of what programs cost in production. Join Datos Insights for a session on the true economics of enterprise AI, covering the full cost structure, how to measure returns using metrics leadership will recognize, and how to build a business case that holds up under scrutiny.
What you budgeted is only the tip of the iceberg
Most AI business cases are built on token costs, which make up a small percentage of the total cost of AI initiatives. Our Total Cost of Ownership calculator shows you the real cost of AI for your organization.
New Tool
What you budgeted is only the tip of the iceberg
Most AI business cases are built on token costs, which make up a small percentage of the total cost of AI initiatives. Our Total Cost of Ownership calculator shows you the real cost of AI for your organization.
The questions that are hardest to answer this planning cycle
AI is impacting every strategic planning conversation, and it’s where the questions are hardest and the data is thinnest: how much to invest, where peers are seeing returns, and how to build a credible case to leadership when the landscape is moving faster than the research. Each page below covers the full range of planning priorities for business and technology leaders within financial services and insurance firms. Here’s where AI sits in each.
Insurance
61% of carriers now have AI in production. The deployment has moved faster than the governance, budgeting, and measurement frameworks built to support it, and most carriers are underestimating what programs cost at scale. Advantage is emerging where AI has moved past IT into underwriting and claims and where the full cost picture is understood before commitments are made.
Commercial Banking & Payments
AI is now shaping the payments modernization, treasury, and onboarding roadmap directly, from how transactions are screened to how clients are onboarded. Clients want AI that cuts friction without added complexity, and the build, buy, or partner question sits at the center of every execution decision this cycle.
Fraud & AML
AI has lowered the cost and raised the scale of social engineering, synthetic identity creation, and automated attacks. Most institutional defenses were built for a threat environment that has already moved on. Real-time intelligence sharing across fraud, AML, and cyber is becoming the baseline, with rules-based systems no longer sufficient on their own.
Wealth Management
AI is reshaping advisor productivity, hybrid advice models, and how firms compete for AUM and next-generation wealth. Few firms have fully mapped where AI already touches the advisor desktop and the client relationship, and that is where the planning work starts.
Retail Banking & Payments
Experiences outside financial services are setting the bar for retail banking now. AI is changing what it costs to meet those expectations and where the biggest service gaps are. The planning decisions that matter most this cycle are the ones that put AI in service of the customer rather than adding complexity to delivery.
The questions that are hardest to answer this planning cycle
AI is impacting every strategic planning conversation, and it’s where the questions are hardest and the data is thinnest: how much to invest, where peers are seeing returns, and how to build a credible case to leadership when the landscape is moving faster than the research. Each page below covers the full range of planning priorities for business and technology leaders within financial services and insurance firms. Here’s where AI sits in each.
Insurance
61% of carriers now have AI in production. The deployment has moved faster than the governance, budgeting, and measurement frameworks built to support it, and most carriers are underestimating what programs cost at scale. Advantage is emerging where AI has moved past IT into underwriting and claims and where the full cost picture is understood before commitments are made.
Commercial Banking & Payments
AI is now shaping the payments modernization, treasury, and onboarding roadmap directly, from how transactions are screened to how clients are onboarded. Clients want AI that cuts friction without added complexity, and the build, buy, or partner question sits at the center of every execution decision this cycle.
Fraud & AML
AI has lowered the cost and raised the scale of social engineering, synthetic identity creation, and automated attacks. Most institutional defenses were built for a threat environment that has already moved on. Real-time intelligence sharing across fraud, AML, and cyber is becoming the baseline, with rules-based systems no longer sufficient on their own.
Wealth Management
AI is reshaping advisor productivity, hybrid advice models, and how firms compete for AUM and next-generation wealth. Few firms have fully mapped where AI already touches the advisor desktop and the client relationship, and that is where the planning work starts.
Retail Banking & Payments
Experiences outside financial services are setting the bar for retail banking now. AI is changing what it costs to meet those expectations and where the biggest service gaps are. The planning decisions that matter most this cycle are the ones that put AI in service of the customer rather than adding complexity to delivery.
Where would you like to start?
Explore the full range of research, benchmarks, and tools, or speak with an advisor about your specific planning priorities.