Technology spending is climbing fast in the financial sector, and for good reason. From improving security to enabling smarter decision-making, IT investments have become central to business performance.
But with leading firms now dedicating 5–10% of revenue to tech, the pressure to prove return on investment (ROI) is intense. Boards and CFOs want clear answers: Is that new trading system worth it? Did that cybersecurity upgrade actually move the needle?
Unlike traditional financial investments, the value of IT isn’t always immediate or obvious. Benefits might be indirect, long-term, or hard to quantify – yet they’re no less real. That’s why measuring and maximizing ROI on IT initiatives is critical.
In this post, we’ll explore:
- The four key metrics every finance executive should use to evaluate IT ROI.
- The common challenges in tracking returns, and how to overcome them.
- Proven strategies to align, govern, and optimize IT investments for maximum impact.
Whether you’re a CIO, CTO, CFO, or business leader, the goal is the same: turn technology investments into measurable business value, whether that’s through cost savings, increased revenue, reduced risk, or improved client satisfaction.
Key Metrics for IT ROI: What Financial Leaders Should Track
Understanding ROI begins with knowing what to measure. In finance, where outcomes are scrutinized down to the basis point, it’s critical to connect your IT investments to the metrics that matter most.
Here are four pillars of IT ROI every financial executive should be watching.
1. Efficiency Gains: Do More with Less
One of the most immediate ways to demonstrate ROI is through improved efficiency. In tangible terms, this means saving time, reducing errors, or doing more with the same resources.
Metrics to track include:
- Time saved on manual processes
- Reduction in error rates
- Headcount efficiency (e.g., transactions processed per employee)
- Unit cost improvements (e.g., cost per trade)
For example, automating a high-volume workflow with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) might let your team process 30% more transactions without adding headcount. Or, a system that cuts manual trade errors in half may eliminate hours of costly rework and compliance risk.
Even small improvements add up. If a new platform reduces your per-trade processing cost from $1 to $0.70, that $0.30 saved per transaction can translate into hundreds of thousands in ROI over time.
Pro tip: Don’t underestimate time as a currency. If analysts save 10 hours a week by automating report generation, you can quantify that by multiplying hours saved by their hourly rate.
2. Revenue Growth & Protection: Fuel the Top Line
Some IT investments unlock new revenue opportunities. Others help protect the revenue you already have.
Let’s say you roll out an upgraded CRM that gives sales teams better client insights. If that drives a 5% boost in conversions, you can tie part of that lift back to the tech. Or imagine a faster trading system that lets you capitalize on profitable trades you used to miss. Those added wins represent ROI.
Just as important is revenue protection. Digital tools like mobile apps or performance dashboards can strengthen client loyalty and reduce churn. Even a modest bump in retention can boost long-term revenue.
Watch for these metrics:
- Uplift in conversion or cross-sell rates
- Client retention rates
- Average client tenure or lifetime value
- Engagement with digital tools (e.g., app logins, dashboard usage)
Even when revenue gains are delayed – such as with data infrastructure investments – they often lay the foundation for future growth.
3. Risk Reduction: Avoid the Big Hits
In finance, avoiding loss can be just as powerful as generating revenue. That’s why so many IT investments focus on minimizing risk – from cyber threats to system downtime to regulatory violations.
Here’s what to measure:
- Number of security incidents or audit findings
- Reduction in downtime
- Fewer regulatory penalties
- Value at Risk (VaR) reduction due to better oversight or controls
For example, if a new risk management platform helps detect and hedge a $10M exposure in a stress scenario, that’s a very real return. Likewise, reducing system downtime from five hours a year to near-zero in your trading environment could preserve untold revenue and avoid SLA penalties.
Cybersecurity also has a calculable ROI. If the average cost of a breach in finance is $4.8M and your security investments lower the likelihood of a breach significantly, the expected value of avoided losses is measurable.
4. Customer Experience: Loyalty That Pays Off
In wealth and asset management, client experience drives retention and referrals. And IT plays a central role, from client portals to mobile apps to performance reporting.
ROI here isn’t just about satisfaction scores. It’s about the downstream value of happier clients:
- Higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS)
- Increased tool adoption or engagement
- Fewer tech-related support tickets
- Longer client relationships
- Higher share of wallet
Let’s say NPS rises from 40 to 60 after a digital upgrade. Or you see 80% adoption of a new client dashboard within six months. Those are signals that your tech is driving value – and loyalty.
There’s also brand impact to consider. A strong digital experience can differentiate your firm and attract higher-value clients. And while harder to quantify, improved employee experience from better tools can reduce turnover and improve service quality.
Bottom line: No single metric tells the whole story. But taken together, efficiency, revenue, risk, and satisfaction create a well-rounded picture of IT ROI, making it easier to justify investment in terms that resonate with leadership and boards.
Strategies for Maximizing IT ROI
Measuring ROI is just the beginning. To get the most from your IT investments, you need a strategy for making every dollar count. From aligning tech with business goals to managing long-term costs, these six strategies can help investment firms turn IT spend into real business performance.
1. Start with Alignment, and Keep Rechecking It
The best ROI comes from IT initiatives that directly support business priorities. That means alignment from the very beginning, as well as regular check-ins to make sure that alignment still holds.
If your firm is expanding into new markets, prioritize systems that support multi-currency trading or regulatory compliance. If cost reduction is a focus, invest in automation and streamline redundant systems.
Some firms use an alignment scorecard to evaluate every proposed project. If it doesn’t map clearly to a strategic goal, it doesn’t get funded. Simple as that.
Business needs evolve, so it’s important to build in flexibility. Agile delivery methods, rolling roadmaps, and regular steering committee reviews can help ensure your IT portfolio stays synced with what the business really needs.
2. Let Data Drive Your Decisions
Want better ROI? Use better data.
Track performance metrics before and after every project launch. Are users adopting the new system? Is it improving process times? If not, dig into why, and act on what you find.
Technology Business Management (TBM) tools can help you link IT spend directly to business outcomes. That kind of visibility lets you spot underperforming tools, cut waste, and redirect investment toward higher-impact areas.
You can also use data to test before you commit. Pilot two CRM platforms with different teams, for example, and compare the sales lift. Then scale the winner. This kind of A/B testing mindset keeps ROI grounded in results, not assumptions.
3. Put Strong Governance in Place
Good governance does more than track project milestones. It holds investments accountable for delivering value.
Post-implementation reviews are a must. Six months after go-live, check whether expected benefits are showing up. If not, pivot: reallocate support, adjust features, or sunset the project altogether. Cutting losses early is a smart way to improve portfolio-wide ROI.
Using a stage-gate process can help prevent throwing good money after bad. At each phase, reassess the ROI case. If the math no longer works due to market shifts or internal changes, rethink the project.
Governance also means resisting overload. Too many active initiatives stretch teams thin and dilute returns. Ranking IT projects by expected ROI – and only funding the top 25% – helps focus resources where they’ll move the needle most.
Pro tip: Some CIOs form an internal investment committee for IT, mirroring how the business vets financial investments. Same rigor. Same expectations.
4. Control the Costs: Think Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
While it’s natural to focus on ROI from the upside, it’s also important to consider the cost side of the equation. This is where total cost of ownership (TCO) comes in.
Make sure you’re evaluating the full lifecycle cost of a system, not just the upfront price tag. That includes maintenance, support, upgrades, and even the internal resources needed to run it.
For example, a cloud-based SaaS solution might cost more up front than a traditional system, but it also saves money long-term by eliminating hardware and reducing support costs. That’s TCO in action.
Be mindful of opportunity cost, too. Every dollar spent on a low-impact project is a dollar not spent on one with higher return potential. Prioritize ruthlessly.
And don’t forget optimization levers: cloud spend management, legacy decommissioning, and smarter vendor negotiations can all shrink costs without cutting capability.
5. Make Intangible Value Tangible
Not every IT investment pays off in dollars and cents – at least not right away. But that doesn’t mean there’s no return.
Think about agility, scalability, employee morale, and brand value. These “soft” benefits can translate into real impact if you know how to measure them.
For example, investing in modern development tools may reduce developer turnover. Lower attrition means fewer hiring and training costs, and more continuity across projects. That’s ROI.
Or consider a robust cybersecurity posture. If it helps land a new institutional client during due diligence, you can attribute part of that win to your IT investments.
The key is to tell a complete story. Pair your hard numbers with a strategic narrative: “This platform saved us $X, enabled two new revenue-generating products, and positioned us as a tech-forward firm that attracts top talent.” That’s the kind of ROI conversation that sticks.
6. Close the Loop: Feedback + Continuous Improvement
Your ROI strategy shouldn’t stop once the project is launched. In fact, that’s when it really starts.
Get feedback from users and stakeholders. What’s working? What’s not? Is there a simple tweak that could boost adoption or unlock new value?
Treat every initiative as a learning opportunity. Agile teams often hold retrospectives to reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and what to change next time. Apply those insights across your IT portfolio to increase success rates and ROI over time.
If you notice that projects with early business sponsor involvement tend to perform better, bake that into your standard playbook. Over time, these incremental improvements compound.
When you combine clear alignment, strong governance, smart cost control, and a feedback loop that fuels continuous improvement, IT stops being a cost center. It becomes a value engine. And that’s what turns increased tech budgets into lasting business results.
Turn IT Spend Into Lasting Strategic Advantage
Maximizing ROI from IT investments does more than justify budgets. It makes technology a lever for performance, innovation, and growth.
For investment firms, where every decision is measured by impact on performance and risk, applying the same discipline to IT spending as to portfolio management just makes sense. When you treat technology as a strategic asset, not just an operational line item, the payoff is real and lasting.
Key Takeaways:
- ROI is multi-dimensional. Look beyond cost savings. Measure returns across efficiency, revenue, risk mitigation, and client experience to get the full picture.
- What gets measured, gets managed. Define success metrics before a project begins – and measure against them after launch. Close the loop.
- Governance matters. Strong alignment with business goals, disciplined prioritization, and the courage to course-correct all contribute to higher ROI.
- Be agile. Market conditions, technologies, and opportunities change. Firms that adapt dynamically can redirect resources to what’s working – and maximize return across their entire IT portfolio.
- Invest in the enablers. Whether it’s user training, clean data, or better vendor contracts, sometimes a small extra investment unlocks major downstream value.
- Think long-term. The best returns come from IT initiatives that are integrated with business strategy, nurtured over time, and continuously optimized.
There are good reasons IT budgets are rising. As Deloitte notes, tech spend now averages around 5.5% of revenue in financial firms, with digital leaders investing even more. But increased spend only matters if it drives better outcomes.
The firms that get this right treat IT as a long-term investment portfolio. They monitor it. Adjust it. And grow it. They foster collaboration between IT and business leaders, build for resilience, and prioritize smart governance and data-driven decisions.
For those looking to take this discipline further, consider establishing a dedicated “IT value office” or adopting frameworks like COBIT or Val IT, which offer proven approaches to governance and ROI measurement. Tools aside, what matters most is mindset: shifting how you see technology from pure infrastructure to strategic growth engine.
Treat today’s tech budget like any smart investment: track its returns, manage its risks, and watch it deliver compounding value.