The Cloud Revolution: What does this mean for Financial Services? 

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a bit of a revolution happening in the Cloud world. Underneath the surface of one of the biggest growth markets the world has seen, a growing community of practitioners are doing the hard yards to turn Cloud into a General Purpose Technology. This means working out how to fully harness the technology and make it scalable for the whole economy. It took the best part of 40 years after the widespread availability of electrical power before Henry Ford harnessed it to create the production line and revolutionised the manufacturing industry. If today’s developments are delivering the Cloud equivalent, we’ve collapsed that time to less than a decade. 

Business benefits and challenges 

So, what does this mean for businesses of today? Using cloud-based technologies for achieving data outcomes is already becoming the norm across many industries, and for many reasons. These include moving away from unsupported or expensive legacy systems, allowing greater democratisation of data across the business, meeting data self-service goals, and accessing enhanced analytics and insights capabilities. However, at the same time, those who have used Cloud to work with data over the last decade are probably equally familiar with the challenges and risks it brings. 

Using cloud-based technologies for achieving data outcomes is already becoming the norm across many industries.

Whilst Cloud opens massive potential for teams to do more things more quickly and easily, this can sometimes mean that things get messier and mistakes are made at a much faster pace. In addition, as the market shifts from a cloud-first to a value-first approach, there are now new challenges with proving return on Cloud investment. However, one of the biggest difficulties we see businesses face today is achieving desired scale and outcomes whilst securely operating with effective governance and controls. This is where recent developments around standardisation of best practices comes into play. 

Optimising data management for Cloud 

These developments are particularly significant for the Financial Services sector, where using Cloud for operational workloads brings with it a whole heap of obligations for data security and effective data management. Whether there is a requirement to establish procedures that are assured and regulated (as is generally the case in the UK and the EU), or if there are proscribed architecture and technical controls that have to be utilised (those in the Netherlands will be familiar with this situation), then adopting a consensus-based approach that is a ‘known good’ to the regulators can be a key enabler to improved productivity. 

The Cloud Data Management Capabilities (CDMC) from the EDM Council represent exactly that enabler. The CDMC framework is a structured framework of auditable data processes and controls that provides best practice for any organisation harnessing the Cloud for data and analytics. Projective Group is a proud member of the CDMC Authorised Partner Programme, forming part of the working group who developed the framework and having pioneered the initial maturity assessment for a number of large organisations.  

How can CDMC help? 

By adopting CDMC practices, organisations can manage their data-related risks, align to regulatory expectations, and prove value and ROI for their Cloud investments. Other benefits of using the framework to support your Cloud journey include: 

• Ensuring your strategy is built on industry best practices for migrating, storing, and managing data in the Cloud, 
• Producing trackable progress and measurable results based on your unique business priorities and goals, 
• Adopting the key controls required to protect data in Cloud environments and meet global data privacy requirements. 

At Projective Group, we understand the specific Cloud challenges currently faced by the Financial Services sector and have used our industry expertise to address and resolve them for a number of our clients. With dedicated practices for Data, Transformation, Payments, Pensions, and Risk and Compliance, our teams are highly skilled in advising and implementing bespoke solutions drawing on these different verticals for financial firms across the European market. To speak to us about how we can help optimise Cloud data management in your organisation, you can get in touch with us here. 

We understand the specific Cloud challenges currently faced by the Financial Services sector and have used our industry expertise to address and resolve them for a number of our clients.

About Projective Group

Established in 2006, Projective Group is a leading Financial Services change specialist.

We are recognised within the industry as a complete solutions provider, partnering with clients in Financial Services to provide resolutions that are both holistic and pragmatic.  We have evolved to become a trusted partner for companies that want to thrive and prosper in an ever-changing Financial Services landscape.