Finance Industry Use of Cloud Computing Increasing

As changing perceptions of cloud computing is changing, more industries are embracing the cloud. The financial services industry is one industry that is embracing cloud computing. Companies that deal with sensitive data such as the financial service industry are becoming more comfortable with having their data stored in the cloud, a remotely managed server.
Chief executive officer and founder of Thousand Oaks-based Cloudworks, Mike Eaton, said “it’s not surprising that banks, credit unions, brokers and others are taking a greater step into the cloud. A lot of financial services have had some component of their business in the cloud before.” Building the infrastructure to protect sensitive data can be very expensive, especially for smaller financial services companies. The cloud enables smaller companies such as credit unions to protect their data at much reduced costs. There are now cloud providers that provide financial companies the security they need in a cost-efficient manner. They will not need a large capital investment as the cloud provides power supplies, additional servers for data back up solutions, and costs are paid on a monthly basis. As well, the companies only pay for the services and resources they actually use.
Financial services companies can find cloud providers that offer the expertise and tools to meet the needs and requirements of the financial service industry. As well, there are data centers available that operate in compliance with the financial services industry. In addition, the use of the data center ensures data is protected in the event of a disaster because the data in stored in another location. The disaster recovery benefits are a plus for the financial services industry. As well, it allows smaller companies to compete with the bigger companies that have bigger budgets. With larger financial services companies, they have the ability to control what data resources will reside in the cloud and what data will stay in-house, while storing everything remotely with backups in place.
The trend across all industries is they are moving toward widespread adoption of cloud-based systems in greater numbers. In a recent report by Forrester Research, it was revealed that the cloud-computing industry would grow from a $40.7 billion global market in 2011 to $241 billion in total revenues by 2020, with factors such as the economy and the demand for flexibility in software and hardware driving some of that growth.”
There are however still some concerns about cloud computing. In June, a survey conducted by security and log management firm LogLogic, revealed that many financial services firms still had data security and transparency concerns. The firm revealed that “34 percent of those surveyed believed cloud computing was not strategic to their company, while 26 percent believed their companies were risk-averse to cloud computing.” Guy Churchward, the LogLogic CEO, said in a statement, “cloud computing providers would need to address security and transparency before there is more mainstream adoption among financial services firms.”