FEATURE
be taken into account in all stages of the
Digital Transformation process.
Many organisations overcome these
regulatory hurdles by using scalable public
clouds for dynamic workloads, allowing
them to store more sensitive workloads in
the private cloud, on-premises data centre
or mainframe application.
In practice, this means that things like
marketing or sales apps can be found in
the public cloud, while more sensitive
services that the bank supplies, such as
financial or customer-related information
like balance enquiries, are stored on either
a private cloud or on-premises application.
Freeing you to be ambitious with
your data
Progressing to the cloud typically starts
with front office Software-as-a-Service
applications, new native cloud application
development and some front-office
functions, and arguably most important
of all, evidence that it works for the
organisation. That includes tracking
new analytics outcomes – i.e. derived
measurable results brought about by the
use of data and analytics in decision-
making – as well as associating those
results with the underlying data, analytics,
algorithms and decisions that contributed
to each success. For example, Revolut, a
digital bank with more than eight million
customers worldwide, is able to streamline
decision-making processes with queries
that run 100x faster. Those working with
data must be able to make this correlation
between analytics and business success
clear to the whole business – particularly in
such a fiercely competitive landscape.
Only then can the power of data be fully
understood to those who haven’t got the
skills required to deal with or leverage
data, while simplifying how instrumental it
is to underlying commercial success.
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Issue 12
Before you’re out of the
starting blocks
Building a hybrid cloud architecture suited
to the needs of your organisation can
take time, and within financial services,
requires businesses to integrate systems
with multiple technologies in the long
term progressively. As part of this, it’s
essential to consider that there are
significant regulatory implications of cloud
adoption within the financial sector.
For example, these companies must
ensure that they can transition from the
cloud back to their own data centres if
required by the regulator.
Other important issues that impact
decision-making around hybrid cloud
include how personal information is
stored, how it is used, dependence on
third-party providers and security of cloud
infrastructure. These are issues that are all
vital during design and architecture stages
of hybrid cloud infrastructures, and in an
industry that continues to evolve in line
with the ongoing pace of change, must
Hybrid cloud is a necessity for financial
services companies seeking greater
business agility, especially for those
operating in such arduous data
environments. In a space like financial
services, businesses can’t afford not
to adapt. The rate of change is driven
by customers’ appetite for more
straightforward and quicker services,
available 24/7. In this context, the case
for the hybrid cloud is simple; it’s an
enabler and supporter of digital business
transformation, helping businesses
prepare for an uncertain future.
Moreover, that future could also be
exciting when it comes to the liberation
of data. In an exciting twist, the utilisation
of cloud-based platforms has given
financial services firms a unique training
ground that allows them to experiment
with the best ways in which to deploy
emerging technologies – from chatbots to
Blockchain-based data stores.
The latter could prove valuable to
financial services firms as Blockchain
is designed to store transactions
forever while preventing data from ever
being altered, creating a trustworthy
environment where small transactional
data can be stored. That grounding –
based firmly within a hybrid strategy
– means that businesses won’t be left to
play catch up, but can instead lead the
charge to an ambitious, data-led future
where the possibilities are endless. ◊
www.intelligentdatacentres.com