Most financial services firms rank customer experience and operational efficiency among their top priorities, but few firms feel adequately prepared to address either, according to a recent report.

Eighty-eight percent of business leaders say customer experience is a top priority, tied with revenue generation, according to a white paper from consulting firm North Highland. But only around a quarter of respondents believe they're ready to address customer experience, according to the survey, which talked to executives of financial services firms with $1 billion or more in revenue.

Likewise, while 85% of respondents rank operational efficiency as a strategic priority this year, only 8% feel very prepared to address it, according to the report.

Financial professionals appear to be better prepared when it comes to generating revenue and cybersecurity: 44% of respondents feel very prepared to address revenue generation and 50% think they're very prepared to tackle cybersecurity, the researchers found.

"Overcoming barriers to preparedness and operationalizing the experience will require financial services firms to cast aside functional silos and embrace matrixed, horizontal ways of working," North Highland writes. "In this new organizational paradigm, financial services leaders must move their attention to aligning people, organizational design, and culture to deliver the ideal experience."