What Are Cloud Management Services?
Cloud management services are tools and services that help an organization manage its entire portfolio of cloud usage.
A cloud management service could include a cloud orchestration tool, cloud compliance tools, cloud management platforms and cloud cost optimization solutions. Such tools could help an organization make better use of any cloud services it uses, supporting them in reaching their goals for security, cost and operations.
Where a single cloud provider allows users to monitor and control various aspects of how its product is used, a cloud management service can do the same across cloud providers. Given that financial institutions are leaning into hybrid and multicloud solutions to keep pace with security and operational needs, that means several cloud services could be in play at any time, making cloud management services particularly useful to the sector.
READ MORE: Learn about the benefits of hybrid cloud environments.
How Do Institutions Benefit from Cloud Management Services?
Deploying the right management service relieves financial institutions of the burden of monitoring all cloud platforms themselves, allowing them to devote internal tech resources elsewhere. It allows banks and other financial service players to more fully leverage the benefits of the cloud.
IBM Cloud for Financial Services, for example, works with curated independent software vendors, fintech solutions, and Software as a Service providers, ultimately supporting financial industry players as they work to innovate without sacrificing customer security. Nutanix features a single platform that streamlines cloud complexity for better customer navigation.
While this optimization may be clear to internal stakeholders, customers benefit as well. Cloud management services can support banks as they develop their capacity in public-facing endeavors such as online banking platforms, deposit systems and loan underwriting. They can also help financial institutions provide more robust customer support through self-service portals, 24/7 services and omnichannel service options.
DISCOVER: Find out how these financial solutions and services can help your organization.
Cloud-based customer relationship management tools can give financial institutions data-based insight into how their customers operate, letting them tailor services, marketing and experiences for both the customers they have and those they want to attract.
All of this combines to deliver better business outcomes for financial institutions. Using a cloud management service lets them scale operations as needed; navigate compliance and regulatory audits; leverage data insights to optimize operations, decision-making and customer relations; take advantage of enterprise-scale storage; collaborate more effectively; and function in a more agile manner.
As highlighted in Microsoft Azure materials regarding how its Platform as a Service offerings can elevate legacy infrastructure, all of these managed services drive innovation, the next step for banking. When individual institutions are ready to explore the next phase — including artificial intelligence and other fintech tools — cloud management services will be there, ready to support.
