Navigating The Challenges Of Moving Your Financial Services Business To The Cloud

The cloud offers an unprecedented opportunity for small and large businesses alike to access professional computing services cheaper and more efficiently than ever before.  The financial services industry has long been skeptical about security issues with cloud-based services, but more companies are expected to reverse their stance in the near future.

Financial services businesses face many challenges when transitioning to cloud services.  According to a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers on attitudes toward the cloud, data security was the most pressing concern of financial services executives who plan to outsource IT to the cloud.  Over 60% of those surveyed said that they saw data and system security as a very serious risk; nearly 40% said that service-level agreements (SLA) are equally risky; about 40% said so for IT governance; and more than 40% said the same for data and systems integration.

The cloud is unexplored territory to many, and financial services businesses are right to be wary with all the options out there.  The privacy of user data is paramount, and a security breech can be extremely costly and destroy a company's reputation.  SLA's are important because they ensure that the service will be active and working on agreed-upon times.  Without this assurance - as well as the ability to integrate with new data and systems - there is no hope for business continuity.

Financial services companies need to keep up with strict regulations, making IT governance a concern because traditional protocols have to be updated to handle the cloud.  Without these standards in place, there is no place for professional financial services on the cloud.  Another major concern for cloud-hosted services is the presence or lack of a contingency plan - the backup for when things go wrong.

Steadfast is a Guiding Light in the Cloud for Financial Services Businesses

Thankfully, cloud computing hosts have seen these needs and responded to them.  Steadfast is a comprehensive cloud-based IT data center services company, providing low-latency access to public, private (personal), and hybrid cloud environments for financial services businesses.

Steadfast employs security experts and offers a wide selection of protection services, such as managed firewalls, an intrusion detection system, vulnerability scanning, and log management.  Security/compliance consulting is offered as well, helping you navigate the complexity of compliance regulations and setting you up with the correct services to meet their requirements.  The Security Operations Center is SSAE16-certified to meet with compliance demands.

A 100% uptime SLA means that your services will always be available when you need them, guaranteed.  The Steadfast data services are specifically configured for low latency and high availability, and are backed up by both battery (UPS) and generator.  With no power outages, there is no cause for concern about losing data in such an event.

Steadfast provides a fully-equipped suite of tools for financial services businesses, enabling them to make the transition to cloud services with the help of competent and experienced professionals.