Enterprise developers can now build cloud-native financial services software with Red Hat OpenShift.
In 2019, we introduced an industry-first platform called the IBM Cloud for Financial Services to help financial institutions host mission-critical workloads with confidence while adhering to stringent security and compliance regulations. Today marks an exciting milestone for IBM. The IBM Cloud for Financial Services, now supporting Red Hat OpenShift and other cloud-native services, is generally available and backed by EY, Tata Consultancy Services and a growing ecosystem of more than 90 Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers.
A growing portion of the $1 trillion hybrid cloud market opportunity is comprised of the financial markets industry, which is expected to increase nearly 20% by 2024.[1] Key findings in a recent IBM internal analysis suggest that cloud is expected to account for about 60% of that future market opportunity as financial institutions are accelerating innovation to meet heightened customer expectations, deliver consistent services in the face of challenges like the global pandemic and navigate the ever-complex regulatory environment.[2]
Offering a secured environment for financial institutions with built-in compliance support, GSIs, ISVs, SaaS providers and FinTechs, the IBM Cloud for Financial Services:
- is now generally available and includes support for Red Hat OpenShift and other cloud-native services, as well as VMware workloads;
- uses IBM’s fourth generation confidential computing capabilities and “Keep Your Own Key” encryption to help partners and their clients retain control of their data;
- includes more than 200 API-driven, cloud-native PaaS services to create new and enhanced apps; and
- enables developer and ecosystem partners to build and modernize solutions in a secured environment.
Increasing opportunity with the IBM Cloud for Financial Services ecosystem
To help GSIs and our ecosystem of over 90 ISVs and SaaS providers create more opportunities for clients, we are helping them with how they can address their regulatory needs with the IBM Cloud for Financial Services. In recent months, Baffle, Inc., Cisco, Collibra, Inc., Icon Solutions, Infor, Infosys Finacle, NetApp, Inc., RIA Advisory, SAP, Solace, Tanium, Finclude and Workday offered their intent to evaluate the ability to onboard solutions to the platform. As our momentum increases, clients can benefit from this growing ecosystem of partners and will be able to further streamline operations, increase efficiencies, reduce operating costs and accelerate revenue growth as more continue to onboard.
The IBM Cloud for Financial Services framework helps financial institutions accelerate their path to market and simplifies the way banks, GSIs, ISVs and SaaS providers work together. We guide our partners through a streamlined onboarding process, which includes a technical and security assessment, cloud-native and/virtual machine workload migration and readiness validation designed to address third- and fourth-party risk. At the same time, the accelerated process positions financial institutions to increase innovation and accelerate partner engagement while fostering on-premises transparency.
Guiding ecosystem partners through the onboarding process
For ISVs, onboarding solutions to the IBM Cloud for Financial Services offers a highly-secure environment to transact. WorkFusion, an automation software provider powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics, is adopting the IBM Cloud for Financial Services to help ensure its tools support the highest regulatory and compliance standards.
After completing a series of onboarding workshops to assess product architecture, security posture, remediation plans and other mission-critical initiatives, WorkFusion onboarded its application and intends to migrate client workloads to the IBM Cloud for Financial Services. By beginning this process, our partner can help its clients automate operations to help up-skill employees and unlock growth while adhering to the disclosure, approval and audit requirements necessary for the financial industry.
The cloud framework offers controls, operations guidance, risk management and a common set of security criteria to guide them and our other ecosystem partners on their path to validation. This path to validation offers a clear roadmap to help financial institutions onboard efficiently and is designed to reduce the cost of client acquisition due to the decrease in third- and fourth-party risk. Cost reduction around acquisition can be a vital piece in accelerating growth in a highly-regulated environment.
Supporting developers across regulated industries
In addition to the benefits our ecosystem partners are realizing with IBM Cloud for Financial Services, we are increasing capabilities for developers and lifting burdens that have previously hindered innovation. Developers across financial institutions, GSIs, ISVs and SaaS providers are able to modernize, architect and create apps using virtual machines or containers and integrate them with a catalog of secured, reliable services. We’re opening the door for developers to build solutions that will work across highly regulated industries — including healthcare, insurance, telco and more.
Enterprise developers have traditionally been bogged down by having to search for information through a complicated matrix of compliance and policy requirements. We’re helping to streamline that process and improve application development with the latest developer tools for IBM Cloud for Financial Services:
- Blog post: Build and run regulated workloads in the cloud
- Code pattern: Deploy a cloud-native application on IBM Cloud for Financial Services
Learn more
We built the IBM Cloud for Financial Services to ease cloud adoption for the industry and help our partners transform while supporting their regulatory needs. Now, more than ever, we’re focused on delivering value to our partners with an open and transparent ecosystem that provides increased cloud consumption in highly regulated industries.
- IBM Cloud for Financial Services Accelerates Innovation with Support for Red Hat OpenShift and Other Cloud-native Services
- Learn more about IBM Cloud for VMware Regulated Workloads
- De-Risking the Ecosystem for Banking and Insurance Clients with IBM Cloud for Financial Services
[2] IBM Global Market View, Banking and Financial Markets Industry Markets Opportunity, March 2021. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
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