Financial services is banking on industry-best communications in 2021

They say every organisation is a technology company these days. This is especially the case for businesses in the financial services sector as they look to start 2021 and shrug off the set-backs of last year.

Traditional banks and other institutions have been forced down a steeper, more aggressive path to digital transformation - accelerated by the pandemic - as the business of finance undergoes arguably its biggest shift since the advent of money itself.

Frictionless or ‘high-frequency’ trading, consolidated marketplace lending, mobile payments along with the rise of crypto-currencies have completely changed how people think about and manage money.

Traditional banks are investing huge amounts of money and effort into digitising their entire operations and transforming processes as the growing number of fintechs create new competitive challenges by offering faster, more intelligent, digitally-driven solutions which continue to evolve and improve.

Previously limited to what a handful of service providers chose to offer, customers now demand instant, highly-personalised and mobile experiences similar to their social media lives.

Tech innovations lead the way in fintech transformations but also increase security concerns

Key to banks being able to deliver this is the ability to communicate, collect, share and analyse massive volumes of data in real-time across super-fast, highly robust, flexible and secure networks.

In fact, without the phenomenal innovations we’ve had in the telecommunications space over the past decade, we wouldn’t be seeing the sorts of transformations taking place in the finance / banking sector, nor any other industries for that matter.

One important example is the fast-growing number of high-speed sub-sea cables which are now as important as ever in supporting large, international and data-intensive industries such as financial services.

They’re the backbone of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain and the internet of things, now being deployed faster and more seriously as stakes rise in the competition for more customers and greater operational efficiencies.

And of course, cloud computing is now a critical part of the equation, both for supporting the development of new digital solutions, as well as traditional core operations, all of which is now expected to run as well, if not better than applications on-premise.

Changing security challenges require fast and adaptable solutions

Meanwhile, this explosion in data is courting danger in the form of increased cyber-attacks, which need to be mitigated. In particular, the volumes of data now being collected and managed at the ‘edge’ is exposing new vulnerabilities, which hackers are all too willing to expose. At the same time banks are facing greater demands in terms of regulatory compliance with new and evolving customer privacy laws.

The rise of digital technologies has been especially disruptive for the financial services sector, largely because it has traditionally been slow to change, accustomed to maintaining the same systems and processes for years or even decades.

Now it’s having to adapt to a new reality whereby change is a constant.  

This means it’s now more important than ever for financial services companies to partner with a communications provider which is truly innovative and forward looking itself. One that has the most modern infrastructure, with a progressive attitude and intelligent staff able to think and act quickly, creatively on your behalf.

Financial services need flexible communications providers

Agility is critical today, especially so for financial services organisations, which must be able to provision new network and computing capacity immediately to support more and less predictable workloads as competitive pressures increase.

The big incumbent carriers bear many similarities to the big incumbent banks. They have scale and experience, but they struggle to adapt to the changes happening around them.  

Just like today’s modern fintechs are challenging banks further to innovate and change more quickly, Australia’s challenger telcos are helping to usher in a new level of hyper-connected, flexible and secure communications.

Financial services companies that are serious about investing in and deploying the digital technologies of today need to know they’re supported by the communications networks that are truly supporting and helping shape the services and customers of tomorrow.

Keep your business connected to the world with Superloop's leading cyber security and connectivity services. Find out more about Superloop's specialist managed IT and communications solutions.