Mar 23, 2023
 
Banking

Banks Stumble To Their Cloud-Based Future

B

anks of 2030 won't resemble those of today. In order for banks to prepare for the future, they must develop plans now to assist them with shifting consumer expectations, evolving technologies, and alternative business models. Isn't this a vital sign of the changing environment? Cloud computing is becoming increasingly important to chief executives, board members, and chief information officers.

As a result of the cloud, banks and other financial services companies are beginning to appreciate the capabilities of the cloud as more than just a technology. It is a place where data and applications can be stored and cutting-edge software can be accessed online.

In addition to providing cutting-edge products-as-a-service to banks on their platforms, public cloud providers offer a wide variety of innovative products-as-a-service to assist in implementing business models that improve revenue generation, increase customer insights, control costs, deliver market-relevant products quickly and efficiently, and monetize enterprise data. Additionally, the cloud offers an opportunity to integrate the business and eliminate operational and information silos across risk, finance, regulation, and customer service. Using advanced analytics, the company can gain comprehensive insights by combining massive data sets in one location.

After focusing on the technology's value as a cheaper, faster, and more "elastic" replacement for on-premise data storage for years, bank leaders are now considering how it can be used in three areas "above the line" to expand new business opportunities and in three areas "below the line" to improve their organization. Banks could enhance shareholder returns and corporate success by implementing cloud technology in these six areas.

Banks: Why should they use cloud computing?

In many ways, cloud computing may aid financial institutions in enhancing performance.

  1. Cost savings and usage-based billing

Financial organizations can use cloud computing to transform a sizable upfront capital expense into a smaller, recurring operating cost. No significant investments in new hardware or software are required. Furthermore, because of the special characteristics of cloud computing, financial institutions can pick and choose the services they need on a pay-as-you-go basis.

  1. Business Continuity

Cloud computing technology is administered by the provider. Financial institutions can benefit from improved fault tolerance, catastrophe recovery, and data protection. In addition, cloud computing offers superior redundancy and backup at a more affordable cost than conventional managed solutions.

  1. Business Focus and Agility

Shorter product development cycles are possible for financial organizations because of the flexibility of cloud-based operating models. This encourages a quicker and more effective response to banking customers' requirements. Since the cloud may be accessed whenever needed, less infrastructure investment is needed, which reduces the time needed for initial setup.

The creation of new products can also proceed without requiring a capital outlay thanks to cloud computing.

Businesses can migrate non-critical functions to the cloud using cloud computing, including software patching, maintenance, and other computer-related difficulties. As a result, businesses can concentrate more on the financial services industry rather than IT.

  1. Green IT

Organizations can move their services to a virtual environment using cloud computing, which lowers their energy usage and carbon footprint. Additionally, it results in less idle time and more efficient use of computing power.

Cloud Migration Challenges for banking systems

There are two main obstacles for banks to overcome when they switch to cloud computing. To be addressed are:

  • Security. The privacy and security of financial and personal information, as well as priority should be given to mission-critical programmes. Banks are unable to take on the risk of a security lapse.

  • Compliance and regulation. Financial data is required by several banking regulators to keep your financial business domestically. certain compliance requirements impose restrictions on how data is combined with other data, such as on shared servers or databases. Therefore, banks need to be aware of where their data is located. inhabits the cloud. Institutions of finance must choose the appropriate service, deployment, and operating models to solve compliance and security issues.

When moving to the cloud, where should a bank start?

A bank may switch to the cloud for a variety of reasons, but apps are probably the main driver. The financial expense required for new infrastructure has always been a major barrier to large expenditures in new technology. Financial organizations just have to budget for operating costs when using cloud computing, and they only have to pay for the services they really use.

This makes testing new applications on the cloud simpler and more affordable than it is with the present traditional infrastructures.

No single cloud computing services model is anticipated to satisfy all of a financial institution's technological needs. Banks should instead create and maintain a portfolio of apps that includes both cloud and on-premises systems.

Even though more money will likely be invested in legacy systems, cloud-based services are best for developing company sectors. It is anticipated that cloud-based services would offer the benefits of lower implementation costs for corporate strategies and quicker turnaround for product and service offerings, particularly those offered over mobile devices and the Internet.

Conclusion

In selecting service and delivery models for cloud computing projects, financial institutions should consider operational flexibility, cost reductions, and pay-per-use options.

According to Capgemini, banks should use a steady development strategy when implementing cloud computing services, assessing each project in light of the applications and data it will handle. Customer relationship management and business content management are examples of lower risk programmers. Core business functional systems like wealth management or core banking will be used in higher risk initiatives.

In the long run, Capgemini anticipates that banks will have a mix of on-premise and cloud-based application services that are deployed via a combination of private, hybrid, and public cloud-based deployment models, with the proportion of cloud services gradually rising in the service mix.