Financial firms increase spending on cloud computing
Financial firms increase spending on cloud computing
Spending on cloud computing systems is increasing as the effects of the financial downturn are replaced by a more positive economic outlook, according to report.
The Cloud in the Capital Markets: A Progress Report analysis by global technology market researchers Ovum found almost seven out of 10 financial market firms are planning to up their investment in IT over the next 12 months. Much of the additional spending is expected to be on cloud technology.
Ovum senior analyst Rik Turner said: “The question becomes are they spending it on dedicated infrastructure for applications, or are they re-organising their internal IT infrastructure for cloud-based delivery. A lot of the big investment banks have been doing this recently, and essentially they are going towards private clouds. The move is more mature in some areas than others, but all of them are on that journey.”
The report found a high degree of acceptance of the cloud among ‘selling’ financial organisations, such as investment banks. It said 85 per cent already had cloud-based services in place to handle information such as market data, while 83 per cent were using the technology to host data for risk analysis.
On the ‘buy’ side of the sector, cloud adoption was even higher with the majority of portfolio management systems mainly hosted on the cloud. There was also a high rate of third-party businesses handling order management systems on behalf of firms.
Ovum said the increased move towards the cloud in the industry was due not only to the improved economic outlook, but also to the better cloud security and an increase in the number of applications that are now available. It expects a speedier uptake across the sector in the next few years.
The UK-based company questioned 380 firms in the world’s major financial centres for the report.
Businesses looking to move services into the cloud, should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.
