YellowDog Survey Dispels Cloud Myths in Financial Services – White Paper

Learn more about cloud use in Financial Services according to primary research released in 2019. To download the full report, complete the form at the bottom of this page. 

Introduction

Cloud is still a relatively new phenomenon – and in Financial Services cloud maturity still has a way to go. Currently in Financial Services, cloud is bundled in with multi-billion transformation programmes as institutions try to pull themselves away from legacy infrastructure and software. Financial Institutions (FIs) are beginning to identify that certain applications and services are better suited to particular cloud providers. This means that strategic thinking around how to approach multi-cloud will be vital. Indeed, 94% of cloud decision makers from 200 institutions said they believed multi-cloud would save their organisation money.

Through YellowDog’s own proprietary data, based on the responses of cloud decision-makers from large FIs across the UK and US, this white paper explores the current cloud landscape within Financial Services, the barriers to cloud adoption, and the solutions and opportunities it presents for both FIs and cloud providers.

Executive Summary

Overall, the data suggests that cloud strategy within Financial Services is at a stage of testing and huge expansion, as large FIs are preparing to invest in multicloud and put hybrid solutions front and centre of their strategy.

Section 1 of this white paper, The Cloud Landscape, shows us that Financial Services must be wary of monopolisation. As the ‘big 3’ cloud providers battle for dominance, one is set to miss out as FIs forecast streamlining the number of cloud providers they use.
Meanwhile, there is a big opportunity for challenger cloud providers to penetrate the market, as the amount of companies transitioning to multi-cloud is set to grow; with the number of companies using 4+ providers set to double in the next 5 years.

Section 2, Barriers to Effective Adoption of Multi-Cloud, analyses what is preventing the wide-scale adoption of multi-cloud and hybrid solutions, and the problems that inadequate cloud management could bring. It finds that access to multiple clouds could nurture siloed cloud-use, instead of a clear multi-cloud strategy. We also explore the key practical barriers to implementation of effective multi-cloud strategies, such as cost and complexity of implementation.

The final section, Solutions and Efficiencies, explores how the Financial Services Industry might overcome some of the obstacles to adoption of multi-cloud, as well the reasons why multi-cloud and hybrid solutions are such a focus for FIs going forward. The findings show that by implementing specific long-term multi-cloud strategies, streamlining on premise infrastructure, and intelligently using multiple sources of compute, institutions could save tens of millions of pounds. This is achievable through, for example, faster and more efficient batch-processing while reducing the risk and costs of regulatory noncompliance. Reducing the cost base, achieving better performance and lowering risk is a veritable utopia for FIs.