www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om 100 Over the course of the last couple of years, the value of digital has increased at an exponential rate, not least for financial services organisations who are increasingly recognising the need to better serve their clients and empower employees, while at the same time continuing to reduce the costs of running their businesses. In fact, a recent survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that financial services respondents are the most likely to say that the pandemic has accentuated the competitive edge of digital-first companies. The cloud is a big enabler here, offering both time to value and cost reduction. Respondents to the Economist Intelligence Unit survey view cloud computing as the most important technology needed to meet their objectives. It’s important to realise, however, that financial services firms have unique needs and challenges. And this is where the recently launched Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services comes into its own. “This industry-specific cloud introduces new capabilities that add to our existing public cloud offerings and in combination truly unlock the power and value of the Microsoft Cloud to help innovate for responsible and sustainable growth,” said Bill Borden, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of worldwide financial services, in a blog post. “Our industry cloud has a foundation of privacy, security and regulatory compliance across Microsoft and our partner ecosystem, and it is built on an industry data model that enables interoperability and innovation. In addition, we are releasing new capabilities to help enable retail banks to enhance customer and employee experiences as well as drive loyalty and customer growth.” Financial institutions including Navy Federal Credit Union and Virgin Money UK are already exploring the new capabilities. “At Virgin Money UK we are always looking at ways to innovate and deliver a world class, digital customer experience,” said Fraser Ingram, chief digital and innovation officer at Virgin Money UK, in a press release. “We see Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services accelerating that journey of digitising our customer experience, while BY L I ND S AY J AME S F E ATUR E The newly launched Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services is helping financial services organisations to enhance customer and employee experiences as well as drive loyalty and customer growth, as Microsoft’s Bill Borden explains cloud Unlocking thepower of the
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