As far back as 2013, Forbes reported that more than half of US businesses were already operating in the cloud. Today, much of the software in use by American businesses and associated online tools are hosted in a public cloud.
While there are now a number of cloud providers, the four leaders in this rapidly growing market are Amazon (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google and Rackspace. According to MarketsandMarkets, the cloud workflow market was worth about $1.75 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to an estimated $3.85 billion by 2023. One only needs to look at the success of the WisdomTree Cloud Computing Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which was up 98.20% late last year future spending forecasts attract investors to the sector.
But as attractive as cloud computing is for businesses and investors, the appeal is even greater for application developers for a number of reasons.
Speed of Development
As the editors of Security Boulevard pointed out recently, cloud development is faster.
“One of the most exciting services the cloud offers is the ability to build applications with speed. When application development and testing are done in a cloud environment, there’s no waiting to procure, configure, provision infrastructure, so software and microservices can be updated and released faster.”
We have found this to be absolutely true in our work for our fintech and our financial institution clients, particularly when responding to changing consumer preferences.
Makes Testing Easier
Automated testing routines can be written in advance, stored in the cloud and then deployed as application development progresses. Unit testing speeds up development, and it can be done from anywhere when the testing environment and the source code both reside in the cloud.
Allows for Distributed Teams
For fintech organizations and financial institutions, this is one of the primary reasons that cloud development is essential. Most organizations struggle to find talent centralized around their office locations and/or lack qualified technologists in–house to develop the critical software that they need.
Having the development and test environments in the cloud opens the door for distributed teams, including the option to more quickly assemble teams with diverse members of local and remote employees, as well as close partners such as Xtensifi in the same virtual workspace. And, these infrastructures and communication tools could help support greater levels of collaboration, regardless of physical location.
Reduces Overall Costs
One of the most compelling reasons for fintech organizations and financial institutions to develop in the cloud is the associated cost savings, especially with ensuring data security. By utilizing the security resources of large cloud providers, developers receive significant leverage and lower costs. According to Forbes, cloud provider firms are spending upwards of half a billion dollars on cloud security this year.
New software development is a requirement for any financial services firm that hopes to maintain customer relationships and effectively compete in this digital age. By directing the development to the cloud, fintech organizations and financial institutions position themselves to more cost effectively, securely and quickly introduce new products and capabilities to their customers.
To find out more about how we help financial institutions leverage the latest technology to support their strategic business initiatives, contact us today.