{"id":15957,"date":"2019-09-17T09:06:09","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T09:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/?p=15957"},"modified":"2019-09-19T13:19:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T13:19:24","slug":"cloud-banking-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2019\/09\/17\/cloud-banking-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging cloud perceptions in the banking sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In today\u2019s fast-paced business landscape, sophisticated software systems fuel the performance of every financial services organisation. Finally, intelligent banking is on the rise.<\/p>\n

Given their dependence on technology, it\u2019s established practice to store a company\u2019s business-critical software with a third-party. This strategy helps protect against financial or reputational damage in the event of software failure.<\/p>\n

We call this software (or source code) escrow.<\/p>\n

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Software escrow and security<\/h2>\n

Security lies at the heart of all software escrow arrangements. It offers a reliable way to protect both parties.<\/p>\n

Customers want to protect the investment they\u2019ve made in the software’s procurement, installation and development. Suppliers, on the other hand, must ensure the value of its intellectual property isn\u2019t diluted through misuse.<\/p>\n

Under a traditional standard escrow arrangement, all parties agree to place the source code in the vaults of a trusted escrow agent. Security-conscious to the end, any signed agreement typically states when the code can be released, and how it can be used.<\/p>\n

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Intelligent banking movement<\/h2>\n

We\u2019re witnessing exciting change in the financial services industry. Traditionally, organisations have hosted and managed software in-house. Now, banking is becoming smarter, with 83% of enterprise workloads predicted to be in the cloud by 2021.<\/p>\n

Investments in cloud-enabling technologies is increasing. Support for non-cloud or on premise IT infrastructure, meanwhile, is in decline.<\/p>\n

The financial technology (fintech) market has welcomed this rapid uptake. Forecasts peg the compound of annual growth rate at 74.16% between 2019 and 2025, further driven by external customers, internal ambitions, and Open Banking standards.<\/p>\n

Powering the intelligent banking movement is a heady mix of cloud computing and analytics: modernising payments is in full swing as companies shift to the cloud.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re also seeing how data alters business practices. Businesses regularly use analytics to identify new revenue streams.<\/p>\n

Machine learning is now being deployed to combat financial crime. Technological advances means it can now successfully recognise the difference between fraudulent and genuine patterns of behaviour. In this way alone, an investment in cloud computing and AI offers a significant ROI.<\/p>\n

Many modern fintech companies, unhindered by legacy technology, are re-shaping the financial services community. In our cloud-first world, they\u2019re developing innovative customer-centric systems.<\/p>\n

However, during this transformation, some in the industry are raising concerns around security, and how to protect business-critical software.<\/p>\n

And here we hit a snag.<\/p>\n

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Differences between traditional and cloud-hosted software escrow<\/h2>\n

A traditional software escrow arrangement doesn\u2019t work for cloud-hosted services.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say a customer has been given the source code. Where would they deploy the solution? What would they do about data stored in the cloud? And how would they manage that solution with no technical experience?<\/p>\n

There are similarities between the two arrangements, of course – including how and when deposits are to be made, what happens if the deposits are deficient and, most importantly, the trigger events allowing the agent to release the solution to the customer.<\/p>\n

The main difference between traditional and cloud-hosted escrow services is what it covers:<\/p>\n