It’s also critical to consider the functional advantage of security separation. New cloud solutions now make it possible to keep mission-critical data stored onsite while farming out compute processes to secure providers, in turn limiting regulatory risk.
Implementation: Taking an Incremental Approach to the Cloud
With operational advantages identified and core systems considered, banks can begin their move to the cloud. Here, there’s a simple secret for success: the incremental approach.
As digital banking adoption continues to surge, this can be a tough ask, as banks want to capitalize on changing market forces immediately, concerned that if they don’t, they’ll be left behind. According to TechTarget, however, prioritizing speedy shifts can backfire. If apps aren’t ready to make the move or staffers aren’t comfortable with new cloud-based tools, potential advantages may be lost to performance issues or existing employee preferences.
The incremental approach both compartmentalizes cloud services and ensures they’re comprehensively tested and explained before implementation. In practice, this means taking time to gather staff feedback, demonstrate how new systems work and then move one workload at a time. Once teams become familiar with new cloud solutions and metrics reflect consistent results, banks can make their next moves. It’s also a good idea to start with noncore, low-risk systems to minimize the chance of digital disruption, then ramp up adoption as required.
Cloud adoption is inevitable for banks, but the task of shifting core systems to the cloud may seem daunting. To manage migration at scale, financial firms are best served by a three-step approach that prioritizes infrastructure evaluation, security preparation and incremental implementation.