(A version of this article was first published in ET Edge.)

In December 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it is working on the establishment of a cloud facility for the financial sector in India. This proposal aims to enhance the security, integrity and privacy of financial data. According to the RBI statement, it also aims to facilitate scalability and business continuity.

RBI’s proposal is a step in the right direction. Over the past few years, especially since digital payments have started to become the norm, we have seen numerous instances of data breaches. This has led to a heightened awareness of the importance of keeping customer data secure. This is where cloud technology plays a major role with its homogeneous architecture, centralized security and ability to guard against DDoS attacks.

Benefits of cloud technology

As we know, cloud technology offers a myriad of benefits that have revolutionized the way banks and financial institutions manage and store data. Let’s look at a few.

• On-demand resource scaling: One of the key advantages is scalability, enabling banks to easily adjust their computing resources based on demand. This flexibility ensures that banks can efficiently handle varying workloads without the need for significant upfront investments in hardware
• Cost efficiency: Cloud services operate on a pay-as-you-go model, eliminating the need for banks to invest in and maintain expensive infrastructure. This democratizes access to advanced computing resources, allowing even smaller enterprises to leverage powerful tools and technologies that were once reserved for larger institutions
• Enhanced collaboration and accessibility: Cloud technology facilitates real-time sharing and editing of documents from any location with an internet connection. This fosters seamless teamwork within different teams of a bank and improves productivity by breaking down geographical barriers
• Robust data security: The data security measures that are possible with cloud often surpass what individual banks can implement on their own. Data backups, encryption, and authentication mechanisms are integral components of cloud services, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of information

In essence, cloud technology empowers banks to be more agile, cost-effective, and collaborative, driving innovation and growth in the digital era. At FSS, we have always believed in the power of cloud technology. Our experience of working with large banks and financial institutions for over 30 years has allowed us to witness firsthand the evolution of cloud technology.

Building the future with BLAZE^TM

We have seen the digital payments landscape change at a rapid pace and understood the importance of cloud to keep up to pace with these changes. We developed FSS BLAZE as a cloud-native platform for this very reason. FSS BLAZE^TM is our new-age payments technology platform built on a microservices architecture. It embodies all the benefits of cloud technology we’ve discussed above. It promises speed, scale, security, stability and success.

BLAZE^TM is built on a robust infrastructure that promotes innovation at scale. The platform can be deployed swiftly and seamlessly on public or private cloud. This allows BLAZE^TM to offer an array of benefits to banks and merchants:

• Open and secure architecture: To ensure ease of integration, rapid scalability, faster upgrades – all with minimal human intervention in secure manner
• Rapid experimentation & testing: Faster speed to innovate and shortest time to market for every new piece of technology
• Dynamic ecosystem: High compatibility and configurability to adjust to changing technological environments
• Plug-and-play capability: Easy to integrate, off-the-shelf, fast deployment capabilities
• Near-zero downtime: 24*7 availability and support with near-zero system downtown to support ongoing and growing payment load
• Highly secure platform: Compliant with all data encryption, tokenization, storage, privacy and other global data laws to ensure end-to-end system security
• Agile and flexible: Reduce complexity, promotes integration and allows services & systems to change at a faster speed
• Cost-efficient solutions: Ensure business feasibility of the technology for businesses and customers for large scale adoption and success

Learn more about FSS BLAZE^TM here.

In conclusion

Coming back to RBI’s proposal of a cloud facility, given that the facility will initially be operated by Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (IFTAS), a wholly owned subsidiary of RBI, it will be truly beneficial to the Indian financial sector.

Since most of the data is either kept in-house or on external cloud, there is indeed a need for a structured and scalable facility for data storage and data processing. With RBI behind this facility, the regulatory framework and guidelines required will also be put into place. A win-win for all stakeholders involved.