Research conducted by Datos Insights reveals two-thirds of financial institutions missed expected implementation deadlines and 46% went over budget, while just 3% have fully implemented AI in testing
WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Go-Live Faster released the results of a new study examining how U.S. banks and credit unions execute and test commercial banking, payments and treasury management modernization projects. According to the findings, half (51%) of U.S. financial institutions surveyed say new implementations in the past 12 months have sometimes or often caused negative client-impacting issues after launch. Two-thirds (66%) missed expected deadlines on recent implementation projects, and 46% went over budget on their most recent implementation.
Datos Insights, on behalf of Go-Live Faster, surveyed 61 U.S. banks and credit unions with $5 billion to $100 billion in assets. All respondents had completed or planned a commercial digital banking platform or payment hub replacement or modernization within the past three to four years. The research found that while investing in the right technology is critical, a successful implementation and rollout is equally important, and that poorly executed implementations have negatively impacted client experience, with 18% of financial institutions experiencing above-normal client attrition because of their migration.
Additional key findings from the report include:
- Speed pressure is outpacing delivery – 64% of institutions face pressure to accelerate implementation timelines, and 63% expect timelines of less than a year.
- Integration and data issues drive delays – Integration complexity (85%), test data or data migration issues (70%), and internal resource constraints (42%) are the biggest contributors to project delays. 62% say data mapping is where their integrations most often fail, well ahead of APIs (41%).
- Testing gaps limit implementation success – 66% rate their own system integration and user acceptance testing (SIT/UAT) capability as very weak, weak, or at best, adequate on complex platform changes. Test automation is the most-cited gap (52%), rising to 65% among banks under $20 billion in assets.
- Delays are costly and defer the payoff – About half of respondents estimate monthly costs from implementation delays at $100,000 to $400,000. Meanwhile, 72% of banks saw a modest increase in new clients 12 to 24 months after implementation, and 49% saw revenue grow 2% or more in the first two years. A failure to meet implementation deadlines delays these benefits.
- AI is not yet playing a meaningful role in testing at most banks and credit unions – 87% believe AI will impact their business in a meaningful way in the next 12 to 18 months, but 3% have fully implemented AI into their SIT/UAT efforts. 30% have partially implemented it, 38% are piloting it and 28% are only in the planning stages of using it.
- Financial institutions see value in outside expertise – 79% have used external partners or outside resources to support implementations, with integration support (64%) and testing (52%) their greatest needs. Those that used an integration partner most often cited greater transparency into project status (58%) and a more efficient testing process (55%) as benefits.
"Most financial institutions have only a few major implementations a year," said Mukesh Mulchandani, co-founder and CEO at Go-Live Faster. "Those projects are usually led by employees on top of their daily work, which is one reason timelines slip. External partners can relieve that pressure, and institutions can set themselves up for success by validating data early, automating testing and measuring results by how clients fare after launch."
For more information and statistics, read the full study report here.
About Go-Live Faster
Go-Live Faster helps financial institutions test and launch new technology faster and with less risk. The company has partnered with more than 50 banks and credit unions that serve more than 50 million U.S. customers. The company's unique Testing-as-a-Service solution combines its expert consultants, AI-powered platform, detailed SIT/UAT assets and the industry's largest library of 90,000+ pre-built test cases to reduce implementation times by 40%, lower project risk and accelerate business impact. Go-Live Faster has experience in ACH, real-time payments, wires, SWIFT, credit cards and treasury management implementations and supports more than 70 banking, payments, fintech and related technology from Bottomline, Finzly, FIS, Fiserv, Q2 and other major providers. Learn more at www.GoLiveFaster.com.
About Datos Insights
Datos Insights is the leading research and advisory partner to the banking, insurance, and securities industries — both the financial services firms and the technology providers that serve them.
In an era of rapid change, Datos Insights empowers firms across the financial services ecosystem to make high-stakes decisions with confidence and speed. Its distinctive combination of proprietary data, analytics, and deep practitioner expertise provides actionable insights that enable clients to accelerate critical initiatives, inspire decisive action, and de-risk strategic investments to achieve faster, bolder transformation.
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SOURCE Go-Live Faster
