Narayan AmmachchiU.S. technology giant IBM has wrapped up a 10-year contract with Banco Popular to transform the Spanish bank ’s technology infrastructure and manage a private cloud for it.
The deal, analysts say, will help the Spanish firm keep pace with technological changes and save nearly 200 million in technology management costs over the contract period.
IBM’s responsibility includes innovating and speeding up the bank’s services. Banco Popular said the agreement will enable it to meet technology standards services needed to run an important digital transformation.
As part of the deal, about 40 technology infrastructure employees at the bank will be transferred to IBM.
“The progressive adoption of innovative solutions such as cloud computing will enable the bank’s technology infrastructure to be more flexible and adaptable to business needs, which will result in better client service,” said Juan Antonio Zufiria, General Manager of IBM Global Technology Services Europe.
Another European bank Boursorama, a subsidiary of French bank Société Générale, has also outsourced the management of its IT infrastructure to IBM.
It seems the financial services firms, challenged by the task of dealing with the data generated by mobility and social media, are turning to IT firms for help. Concerns over a possible loss of control, availability and security of data are pushing them closer to the cloud.
Banks are built on large IT infrastructures that process substantial volumes of data on a daily basis. Cloud will enable banks to keep up with technological changes while reducing costs.
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