Banking Capability CloudsTechnology trends 2011 |
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For the past few years, Information Technology (IT) leaders in the banking have been enamored by "as-a-service" concepts and the potential to unleash the power of distributed computing, virtualization and ubiquitous networking. The message being spread is one of capacity and cost the ability to tap into a nearly unlimited scale of computing power, storage, platforms and software with the hope of lower overall technology spending. Cheaper and faster are interesting terms for banks that are still seeking ways to stretch their IT dollars as they continue down a shaky recovery path. They're trying to balance growing capacity needs with an unyielding imperative to keep costs low, after all. But better is a term that banks can really get excited about.
Capability clouds move beyond the building blocks of capacity to deliver finished services that directly address business objectives and enterprise goals. Instead of talking about machines images or database instances, the discussion shifts to the analytics cloud, or the testing cloud. The sales cloud, service cloud or the collaboration cloud. And the conversation moves from the Chief Information Officer (CIO)'s office to the CEO's office and the boardroom.
The emergence of capability clouds complements parallel developments in important areas such as mobility. At the same time, most banks are looking for ways to generate value from the cloud, mobile banking and other mobility-based capabilities are taking off. These developments aren't mutually exclusive. Capability clouds can be pillar of any serious mobility strategy, as banks look to move beyond baseline mobility capabilities (checking balances, transferring funds, etc.) to more sophisticated applications. Today, virtually any discussion of mobility has to include capability clouds and vice versa.
Similarly, capability clouds allow the discussion to focus on a more important set of values. The conversation shifts from total cost of ownership and asset efficiency to accelerating time-to-results, adding new functionality or changing business processes and business models. It's relatively easy for a business unit leader to buy a software-as-a-service tool for point solutions, such as workforce planning or compensation management. The main requirement is simply a corporate credit card.
There have been three main drivers of cloud adoption among banks so far: a preference for operating expense over capital expense; speed to solution; and flexible, scalable access to specialized resources be they technology, software or people. The capability cloud can add opportunities for agility and innovation in how business processes, even business models are acquired, composed and revised. For example, an analytics cloud may go beyond just delivering analytics databases, models and tools. It may also offer Ph.D-level statisticians applying the art of the science for the benefit of your business, where you only pay for the level for service that you need.
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Banking capability clouds
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