CIOInsider India Magazine
What's Next in Cloud Computing in the Banking and Financial Sector?
Almost all industries currently work on the technologies incorporated within them. Since the financial and banking sectors have embraced cloud computing, analysts believe that in 2030, bank structures will be very different from how they are today. Leaders in banking and capital markets are beginning to understand that the cloud is more than just a place where banks and other financial services companies may store their data and applications and access cutting-edge software online. The increasing number of cloud computing courses, mushrooming cloud infrastructure companies, and cloud services providers indicate a robust ecosystem brewing up. The top public cloud providers provide access to a wide range of cutting-edge goods-as-a-service on their platforms, which assist banks in implementing business and operating models to enhance revenue generation, increase consumer insights, reduce expenses, and supply products that are relevant to the market.
Additionally, the cloud presents a significant potential to synchronize the business and eliminate information and operational silos across risk, finance, regulation, customer service, and other areas. Massive data sets can be combined in one location, at which point the company can use advanced analytics to gain comprehensive insights. Bank leaders are thinking about how they can use the cloud in three areas above the line to open up new business frontiers and in three areas below the line to streamline the organization. For years, the value of the technology has been emphasized as a less expensive, quicker, and more elastic alternative to on-premise data storage. Applying cloud technology in these six areas could aid banks in enhancing shareholder returns and corporate success.
The banking and finance sectors are still lagging behind when it comes to exceeding client expectations. And how financial institutions handle their customers may be significantly impacted by this unwillingness to change. According to the most recent survey, 59 percent of consumers have higher expectations for customer service than they did a year ago, and 80 percent of customers believe that a company's customer experience is just as important as its products and services.
Cloud Computing in Banking
The majority of financial organizations currently collaborate with outside service providers to maintain items like cloud management services or outsourcing services. However, according to Gartner's survey for 2021, many banks intend to use fewer external service providers and take on more of their own cloud activities. As an illustration, some businesses have built private clouds where computing resources are housed on a network used by just one company and situated inside their very own data center.
Cloud Computing for Various Banking Purposes:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Banks manage client data and interactions using cloud-based CRM solutions. Regardless of location or time of day, this enables financial institutions to maintain track of all consumer contacts. The appropriate cloud strategies also help banks deliver individualized service depending on client requirements and preferences.
Fraud Detection: Financial institutions utilize the cloud to analyze vast volumes of data from several sources to avoid and detect fraud. This aids financial organizations in identifying questionable behavior before any harm results.
Data Analysis: Customers are constantly in pursuit of overwhelming banking experiences. This made it inevitable for banks to understand the dynamics of customers' interaction with financial products; Banks can now create new offerings that meet their needs better than ever before. Hence, Banks bank on the cloud for advanced analytics and to gain insights into customer behavior patterns and trends.
What are the Advantages of Using Cloud Computing in the Banking Sector?
Delivering the Best Customer Experience: By making anytime, everywhere access to financial services, banks can improve the client experience.
Reduced Costs: Shifting the program and the data to the cloud helps the banks save money. Also, financial firms' utilization of public clouds is more economical thanks to their pay-as-you-go pricing model.
The operational risks include potential financial losses from a lack of internal controls over processes inside an organization’s operations
Greater Scalability: Financial institutions have the flexibility they need to provide their consumers with the finest service thanks to cloud platforms' ability to scale up or down as necessary.
Enhanced security: The public cloud provides numerous levels of security against data breaches and other assaults, making it a more secure environment than the majority of on-premises systems.
Compliance with Regulation: Banks can use cloud platforms that adhere to financial industry rules to satisfy regulatory compliance needs.
What are the Challenges of Using Cloud Computing in the Finance Sector?
Even if employing cloud technology in banking has many advantages, the difficulties associated with cloud adoption may be why so many financial organizations lag behind other sectors. Forbes reports that only 18 [percent of financial organizations had broadly used cloud services as of the end of 2019. When switching to the cloud, financial institutions typically encounter the following problems:
Data Privacy and Security:
When storing data in the cloud, banks must make sure it is protected and secure. Additionally, they must ensure that their systems abide by any data privacy laws that may be in force.
Regulatory Compliance:
Numerous rules governing the financial sector must be followed by banks, many of which specify precise protocols for handling consumer data. When banks' systems are housed on the cloud, it might be challenging for them to adhere to all of these standards.
Lack of Control: Financial institutions may worry that when they migrate their systems to the cloud, they will lose some control over them.
Risk Management in Cloud Banking Systems
Given the variety of hazards financial institutions are exposed to, risk management is a crucial component of financial management operations. It is crucial for them to appropriately manage these risks to reduce any potential adverse consequences on the bank's financial performance. The following are some instances of the different dangers that institutions must deal with:
Regulatory Risk Management:
The bank may disobey some laws and rules governing financial services in their region and the nation where they conduct business. When this occurs, it results in fines and may also result in license loss.
Reputational Risk: The financial institution pays the price for the harm done by the product's unfavorable coverage in the traditional media.
Operational and Strategic Risks: The operational risks include potential financial losses from a lack of internal controls over processes inside an organization’s operations. For example, not following proper procedures during customer transactions could easily result in unauthorized access granted by employees who should not have been able to do so. But the strategic risk involves any type of change regulated by the government that would affect the financial institutions’ ability to operate successfully within a certain market.
