Mature cloud providers have enhanced built-in security features that meet and often exceed regulatory requirements. With capabilities such as real-time threa detection and automated security and compliance reporting, cloud users are equipped with tools to easily comply with the long laundry list of financial regulations.
Pioneering a New Way Forward
Today, the financial services industry serves as a prime example of how to unleash the true value of data analytics in the cloud. Cloud transformation is rarely straightforward. Organizations embarking on this journey can learn a lot from the financial services industry. The following are key steps to take to ensure that you get the most out of the latest technologies.
- Establish a data-driven culture.
Businesses across all industries are abuzz about building a “data-driven culture,” yet many struggle to define what that actually means for their business and how to make it a reality. According to Forrester, 74% of businesses say they want to be data-driven, but only 29% say they’re good at connecting analytics to action. It’s clear there’s a massive cultural deficiency surrounding data.
Simply put, being data-driven means efficiently and regularly leveraging data to make better business decisions. While deploying the right tools is a great place to start, this is only the beginning. It’s about how you take action on that insight. Business and technology leaders need to create a culture that empowers everyone within an organization to become their own data master. This means they need to arm all personnel with the resources and training to effectively collect, collate, and act on the data gleaned from day-to-day business functions. Easy access to cloud-based data analytics services significantly lowers the barrier to entry.
- Identify the right tools/services.
Cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform are all providing their customers with a plethora of analytics tools—which is both exciting and challenging as customers struggle to determine how and which tools to use. If companies want to achieve their desired results, they need to identify which services properly align with their business goals and strategies.
Today, big data analytics ranges anywhere from prescriptive analytics to diagnostic analytics, and each type of analytics is popular within specific industries and markets. What works best for the manufacturing industry may not be the best for the automotive industry, and so on. When exploring options, organizations should align themselves with an analytical service that is purpose-built for what they’re looking to achieve with their data.
- Be an early adopter of emerging tech.
According to the analysis of AWS spending trends, in the past year, cloud platforms that enable machine learning to integrate with applications had the most growth in the financial services industry. As companies started to recognize the value in machine learning, cloud providers reacted by allowing these solutions to be developed and hosted within the cloud, even taking on much of the training workloads involved with preparing a machine learning algorithm for practical use.
For example, financial services companies are looking to leverage machine learning technology to assist with predicting market trends and assessing risk management. By using tools such as AWS SageMaker, companies can deploy, train, and build machine learning models directly within their cloud environment, making it easier to run predictive analytical processes faster, less expensively, and in a more accessible fashion.
The financial services industry is staying on top of the latest tech trends, following the best practices of other enterprise technology innovators, and paving the way for others to follow. By doing so, they’re merging their capabilities with the tech industry and expanding beyond traditional service offerings.
Today, some of the world’s most traditional industries are taking advantage of the latest and greatest tech on the market. By establishing the right culture, identifying the right tools, and adopting emerging technologies early, the financial services market has become well-positioned to outpace and inspire innovation across all sectors.
Rachel Dines is head of product marketing at CloudHealth by VMware (www.cloudhealthtech.com), a cloud management platform designed to drive increasing business value at every stage of the cloud journey.