| |MARCH 20218HOW CLOUD WILL ACCELERATE ECONOMIC RECOVERY FROM COVID-19 & GROWTH FOR INDIA'S BANKING SECTORBy Ciaran Chu, Practice Leader ­ Public Cloud, ACI WorldwideCiaran is an expert in both the issuing and merchant acquiring space of global payments, with a focus on how banks, processors, fintechs and merchants can navigate the evolving payments ecosystem to generate new revenuesExpert Opinion020 has been a whirlwind year. Among the profound changes the pandemic has ushered in, the mass adoption of digital payments and banking platforms is likely to be long lasting in nature. As we adapt to a world shaped by physical distancing, banks and financial institutions are adapting and innovating. For firms looking to recover in the short-term and accelerate their growth trajectory in the longer term, technology-fuelled experiences can help them compete, ramping up services and profitability while reshaping customer experiences. Additionally, Banks must focus on internal IT operations and systems to ensure operational integrity. This is where the power of the cloud will come in. In 2021, cloud will power vital infrastructure for India's banking and payments sector, enabling agility, improved remote collaboration, and faster application development and deployment. Outlined below are the three big cloud trends that ACI Worldwide sees having the biggest impact on India's BFSI sector in 2021:Revaluation of operational control processes: One of the big challenges of cloud adoption pre-COVID-19 was the amount of operational overhead and risk acceptance knowledge required to migrate workloads from on-premises to the cloud. This was coupled with the fact that many banks had in place arduous control processes that were difficult to overcome. Due to the pandemic, banks have realized that many offshore resources that were maintaining systems could not log in from home, causing a risk issue. Banks were forced to re-evaluate these processes to ensure they were fit for purpose in this new world, where physical distancing quickly became the norm. As a result, in 2021 we will see banks increase expenditure on process simplification and improvements ­ something that the cloud can deliver.Changing relationship between data regulation and innovation: With changing geopolitical dynamics, we will see increased focus around data sovereignty and consumer safety, as consumers seek to understand how precisely their data is being used and governed. As a 2Ciaran Chu, Practice Leader ­ Public Cloud
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