The benefits of deploying services in the Cloud | The Financial Technologist

The cloud has revolutionised the way businesses deploy their services, and no sector has taken to the cloud quite like the financial markets sector. The cloud offers computational power on demand whereas in the past, firms would invest large sums into proprietary infrastructure, and use this to deploy applications, store data, and provide services. The cloud offers a much more agile alternative to that initial outlay. The cloud represents speed to market, scalability, resilience and much more. At Propellant, we have seen first-hand how important these merits are to our list of clients which includes banks, asset managers, industry associations, regulators and universities. In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the many positives of cloud deployment. Speed to market: The cloud has enabled us to launch new services quickly. The alternative, using on-premise systems, requires specialist fixes and patches to proprietary systems which can add months to projects. With the cloud, once contracts have been signed a typical onboarding process can take as little as one hour to get our service up and running. With this speed comes agility too. Cloud enables us to add or upgrade services very quickly, and thereby respond to changing end-user requirements or market conditions. This helps preserve competitive advantage. Scalability and Flexibility: Financial markets are inherently volatile and prone to sudden changes in demand. The cloud can easily adapt to these changes by providing scalable infrastructure, enabling FinTechs to quickly expand or reduce capacity as needed. This flexibility allows us to provide services to a wider range of customers without worrying about infrastructure constraints. Cost-Effectiveness: The cloud provides a cost-effective way for FinTechs to deploy and maintain services. With technology and infrastructure maintained on-premise, as it has been in the past, securing the expertise required to maintain systems was a major cost and challenge. However, the cloud offers economies of scale. Propellant pays only for the resources used, and typically, there are revenue streams to cover these costs. Improved Security: The cloud provides some of the most secure environments in existence. Cloud providers have extensive security protocols and teams dedicated to monitoring and protecting customer data. They also provide advanced encryption and access controls, ensuring that financial data remains secure. Increased Resilience: Cloud providers typically run multiple data centres in different regions, which adds resiliency and helps maintain business continuity. This level of resilience is difficult and expensive to achieve with on-premise systems. For FinTechs and financial institutions, the cloud offers numerous benefits. It takes products to market quicker, it offers greater scalability and flexibility, cost-effectiveness, improved security, and increased resilience. As financial markets become increasingly digital and as data volumes grow exponentially, the cloud has become an essential tool for businesses cementing their competitive advantage. As we serve a wide range of clients at Propellant, the cloud helps us to react quickly to dynamic market change, and keeps our business agile and secure. You can read Vincent's article and further industry insights in the latest edition of The Financial Technologist. Download your free copy here.