Working with a cloud services provider offers a wide variety of benefits for banks and financial institutions. This includes greater flexibility and scalability, lowered costs, and improved organizational efficiency. Unfortunately, many banks are still hesitant to adopt cloud technology. In fact, a recent survey of financial executives found that 61 percent of them believed their cloud strategy was still stuck in the formative stage.
What do so many banks fear about the cloud? Here are the biggest challenges for financial institutions looking to implement a cloud strategy:
1. Security
For financial institutions, keeping data secure is of the utmost importance. Banking information is extremely sensitive, making it valuable and especially vulnerable. IBM found that the average data breach cost a company $145 to $154 for each compromised account. Since banking information is even more sensitive and valuable, it could be even more than that. Handing off such an important task is enough to make many bank executives think twice.
2. Regulation and Compliance
As a bank, your business partners and jurisdictions require you to comply to extremely strict standards. Data protection laws often dictate exactly what your options are in regards to storing and managing your information. By placing this all in the cloud, executives are concerned that key pieces could be missed, resulting in hefty fines and negative publicity.
3. Control
Handing control of your critical business applications and data is a major concern. Handing it off to somebody else could reduce your ability to be flexible and agile. You'll need to reach out to your service provider, putting yourself at their mercy. The thought of falling behind a critical update simply because you couldn't make adjustments on the fly yourself is terrifying. Often enough, not having total control is a large enough deterrent to stop companies from moving to the cloud at all.
Overcoming Concerns in the Cloud
The best defense against the above mentioned cloud concerns includes working with a reputable cloud services provider who specializes in cloud solutions for banks and financial institutions. They often have experts on hand who are experienced in cloud security and compliance to ensure data is protected at all times. They also offer custom solutions to maintain control, technology flexibility, and round-the-clock support and monitoring to ensure your infrastructure is always performing optimally. Luckily, if you choose the right cloud services provider who has the necessary expertise and controls in place, your bank or financial institution will be able to overcome all of these challenges, and reap the benefits of cloud computing.
Are You Looking for a Cloud Service Provider in The Bahamas, Caribbean or Latin America?
If you're thinking about switching to a cloud service provider, consider Cloud Carib. Located in Nassau, Bahamas, Cloud Carib is a trusted cloud and managed services provider that offers private, public, and hybrid cloud solutions.
