5 Benefits of Cloud Solutions for the Financial Services Industry
Today, cloud computing is one of the most in-demand IT services across all industry sectors, including healthcare, education, real estate and ecommerce. The financial services and accounting industry – traditionally tech-conservative sectors – is now getting on board with this tech, realising the extensive benefits it offers to businesses in this industry.
- Exceptional Security
Initially, security concerns were one of the reasons financial services businesses were hesitant about adopting cloud solutions. After all, you’re not only handling very sensitive personal and financial information; you are also subject to strict regulatory compliance measures. Taking a chance with data security would cause risk to skyrocket and bring down heavy fines from regulatory bodies.
These days, it is clear that partnering with the right third-party cloud solutions partner actually increases data safetyand regulatory compliance, making it a more effective risk management option than performing in-house, on-site data management. This is due to several reasons, including the ability of dedicated managed IT service providers to access enterprise quality equipment that is financially unviable and inaccessible to all but the biggest firms. Even then, relationships between key vendors and managed IT service providers make working through a third party more cost-effective.
Today’s cloud systems offer data security through a number of innovative, high quality features, including built in redundancy to mitigate single points of failure, backing up data onto multiple secure servers across different geographic regions, built-in protections against viruses, malware and hackers, as well as email retention and encryption for compliance, multi-layer spam and virus protection, and much more.
- Reduced IT Spend
IT spend when you partner with the right managed IT solutions provider means a controlled and affordable approach with a clear and predictable price structure as well as reduced third party fees due to established relationships with key vendors. This option puts an end to high capital expenditure on in-house infrastructure and software, and unpredictable salary spend to access skills due to the need to expand your team or manage staff turnover. Effective data management means prioritising the latest solutions, talent and equipment – an expensive exercise. With an IT partner, this expense is taken off your plate, reducing internal IT equipment, the need to source and manage staff internally, and the requirements for upgrading and housing this equipment.
- Increased Agility
Managed IT services increase the ability of your organisation to scale quickly and pivot to take advantage of new opportunities. This agility is key in an increasingly uncertain world where financial services and accounting providers are caught between economic pressures and regulatory/compliance ones. With a managed IT services provider, managing change is as simple as having a meeting with your provider and telling them what you need – it’s up to them to deliver.
In-house IT management is a completely different story, where organisations are held back from adapting to rapidly changing environments by the need to find capital to spend on expanding or upgrading IT infrastructure, the need to hire the right skills to create a team that has the capabilities to manage your IT needs, and even finding the right space to house this infrastructure securely.
- Constant, Accessible Support
As the world becomes more digitised, it is important to make transitions as seamless as possible in order to reduce frustration, onboard employees, and minimise disruption to clients and business processes. Few organisations have the resources at hand to achieve this faultlessly, while a managed IT services provider does. By providing a specialist, dedicated team, employees are effectively trained in new software systems, onboarded efficiently and have access to guaranteed remote support 24 hours a day, any day of the year.
- Increased Productivity
In the USA alone, IBM’s data showed that unplanned downtime due to server and network access problems accounted for 12.4 hours a year in lost productivity and US$58,118 per 100 users per year in lost revenue. By leveraging the expertise of a remote specialist IT team that’s always available and understands your network, server and software solution inside out, managed IT services can reduce network and server downtime by up to 85%.
Need a Managed IT Solutions Specialist for the Financial and Accounting Sector?
At Otto IT, we work extensively with small and medium sized businesses in the financial and accounting industry, leveraging our expertise and relationships with key vendors to ensure your business is as competitive, agile and efficient as possible.
By prioritising data security and flexible financial software, we ensure that your goals for compliance, risk management and data security are met along with your need for a cost-effective solution.
From going paperless, moving to the cloud and optimising your software uptime, our specialist team is there to reach your goals. Contact us today for more information on our managed IT services for the financial services sector.
Milan is the CEO at Otto – where his focus is changing IT up. Milan is highly focused and skilled in Storage, IT Service Management, IT Strategy, Professional Services, and Servers.
