The financial world is at the cutting edge of high technology

Cloud

Cloud based networking infrastructure is now ubiquitous in Finance and destined to grow. The key advantages of Cloud allow mainframe services over the network, such that control, change, agility and security are now under the umbrella of cloud-based software and network management. Initially Finance companies were reluctant to switch to Cloud and were content to sit back and ignore Cloud based issues because of fears about security, unreliability, open systems, potential risk and loss of control. Perceptions are now changing as the Cloud offering has matured and now covers the spectrum of software-as-a-service (SaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and more. Financial institutions are now obliged to invest in the flexibility of service structures that put forward Cloud based banking platforms for both business and consumer clients. Cloud based infrastructure’s greatest advantage is the ability to change or upgrade software solutions globally without needing to visit each Branch or Headquarters.

Analytics

Leveraging data is the growth sector of all businesses from mining to derivatives. Never in the history of humans has so much information been available and the art of metadata insights is still nascent. The battleground is in data analytics but converting this information into a strategic focus is where the boardroom is paying most attention. Unlike most business proposals Analytics takes advantage of concrete metrics and trend identification. What this really means is not just customer propensity modelling for share of wallet, but using data intelligently to create opportunity and improve service. Using data analytics to provide customers with offers that are personalised at the point of most relevance is now marrying finance with marketing communications and online/offline shopping. This data yield is only set to mushroom as the internet of things and wearables become part of everyday life. In addition to external insights financial institutions are also using analytics to improve internal processes and increase profits to shareholders and partners alike.

Renewal of Core Systems

The third rail of Information Technology in Finance is that many core systems are no longer fit for purpose and this topic is increasingly an unavoidable issue. Developers, architects, engineers, analysts, designers or managers now understand the demands of real-time data processing and legacy core systems are often unable to cope with the speed and volume needed to provide instant insights. Four out of five banks now believe they have to replace their core banking system in the next three to five years, with cloud based services as part of the infrastructure, according to a new survey of senior bank executives. Support for new cloud based platforms is strong overall, although lowest in western Europe, where only 51% of companies are strongly in favour as opposed to Asia Pacific, where the equivalent figure was 76%