Digital Transformation Isn't Just About Cloud Migrations: Understand The Drivers

Nathan Dionne, the Vice President of Digital Transformation at Eze Castle Integration, has seen businesses opt for a cloud or data solution for no real reason other than its sheer popularity. Some companies eventually do learn to harness the benefits of these services, but many end up with a sea of data they can't control. We'll look at how financial services and insurance companies can make smarter decisions.

FOUNDATIONAL STRATEGY

Digital transformation starts with a good foundational strategy, and this strategy doesn't necessarily have to include the cloud. While migrating data undoubtedly has multiple advantages, including cost savings and improved security, it's useless if a business can't leverage the technology.

THE PERILS OF MOVING DATA

The overall structure of the company's network has a lot to do with how much gets done on any given day. When a financial services company moves to the cloud, it's not necessarily solving anomalies or gaps in the system architecture unless the problem is fixed before the transfer.

Before merely relocating the issues to another server, companies need to first assess why a cloud service is necessary and what can be done to optimize the migration. If cloud services turn out to be a subprime option, digital transformation might come in a different form, such as a new API or robotics automation. Across the financial services industry, companies can iterate from there only when they have the right strategy in place.

BUILDING FLEXIBILITY IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Dionne understands the industry well enough to know that there's no such thing as a future-proof system — technology moves at a pace that few can predict. The best a company can do is build an infrastructure that can process application changes in real-time. This agile framework converts months of work to just a few weeks. Flexibility for a financial services company may very well look like the cloud, but there's also a chance it will look like something else entirely.

As with any complex problem, the solutions will only work if they're customized to meet the inherent challenges. For one financial company, that may mean using several kinds of cloud storage. For another, it might mean bringing all programs under a single umbrella. However you choose to make the digital transformation happen, it all starts with a strong baseline.

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