“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~Leonardo DaVinci
During 2017, the financial services industry went through structural changes and looked to invest in technologies driving digital transformation. The key driver was to adopt new operating models with a goal of achieving greater efficiency and competitiveness. Banks and Capital markets were looking to deepen their engagement with the Fintech ecosystem and digital transformation was a standard boardroom talk in the financial services industry. As technology upgrade cycles continued to shorten due to new advancements in technology, financial services firms were looking for opportunities to retire their legacy systems. Read more on the trends from 2017’s Deloitte Industry Outlook.
2018 and Beyond
Looking at this year’s Deloitte banking and securities industry outlook, we see several trends for the coming months. The financial services industry is dealing with multiple challenges tied to regulations, legacy systems, new disruptive models and emerging technology, new competition, and changing customer demands, all with a goal of achieving sustainable growth and gaining that competitive edge.
Taking a deeper dive into Deloitte’s Industry Outlook, we found out that the banking industry needs to examine these six macro themes to meet their long-term goals with short-term performance measures:
- Customer centricity
- Regulatory recalibration
- Technology management
- Mitigating cyber risk
- Fintechs and big techs
- Reimagining the workforce
Digital Transformation for the Financial Services Industry
To take these challenges head-on, the financial services industry needs to look towards technologies such as Cloud services, which have the potential to transform the banking and securities industry. For this blog, we will focus on the three main challenges that cloud solutions can solve: Security, Cost Savings and Efficiency.
Security
A recent Accenture report found out that financial services firms are facing a large number of security breaches. The report stated that a firm faces an average of 85 targeted breach attempts a year, a third of which will be successful.
The financial services industry can leverage a hosted private cloud solution as it meets the regulatory and security requirements of the industry, from GLBA to many other industry-specific regulations.
By migrating their IT infrastructure to the cloud, financial institutions gain access to hosted tier 3+ virtual private data centers that meet SSAE 16 auditing standards and ensure the highest level of security. A cloud solution is more secure than on-prem, as it enables IP filtering, dedicated firewalls and provides dedicated resources to continually monitor and update their platform against malicious threats. With a hosted private cloud solution you’re just not paying for space, but also get to work with the brightest cyber-security minds.
Cost Savings
Migrating IT infrastructure to the cloud reduces operational expenditures and the financial industry can say goodbye to the hassle of keeping their hardware and software updated. Cloud technology keeps you up to speed with the latest updates which are essential for security and performance.
Check out how a leading asset management firm, National Asset Direct was able to reduce their technology spend by 50% by leveraging a Desktop as a Service (DaaS) solution.
Efficiency
Cloud solutions allow greater mobility and efficiency, by leveraging Desktop as a Service (DaaS), financial firms can reimagine their workforce by allowing them access from anywhere, and no longer being tied to a physical desk makes them more productive and loyal. Financial institutions that have geographically dispersed branches, cloud infrastructure enables their users to securely log in and features like app publishing make it easier to deploy and maintain while also accounting for other application use challenges such as app compatibility.
Take a peek at how Bank of England, a leading mortgage lender with 70+ branches partnered with a cloud provider that enabled a technology refresh and helped address some long-standing operational challenges.
Time to try a Secure Hosted Cloud
At dinCloud, we help financial institutions leverage the cloud. If you would like additional information, or to discuss your institution’s environment, contact us via this form.
