Financial establishments need to embrace a strategy of operating across various cloud platforms in today's data-centric era.

In the rapidly changing landscape of the financial services industry, a data-first strategy is becoming increasingly crucial for success. This is according to a new paper by Equinix and Dell Technologies, titled "Designing a Data-First Strategy for Financial Services: Foundations of Digital Transformation in Financial Services."

The paper highlights the benefits of a multi-cloud strategy for banks. This approach provides more choices, elasticity to scale quickly, and risk mitigation against vendor lock-in, cyber threats, geopolitical stand-offs, and other disruptions affecting business continuity.

However, the multi-cloud strategy also presents challenges. With most businesses likely to have multiple K8 clusters, issues such as siloed management and lack of visibility can arise. To address these challenges, the paper suggests a successful multi-cloud strategy comprises three key elements: zero-gravity data access, consistent Kubernetes operations, and the integration of platform-as-a-service (IPaaS) and API management.

Zero-gravity data access, a concept developed by Cisco in collaboration with Equinix in 2021, gives customers the flexibility to engage with relevant public cloud providers and implement a data-centric approach. This approach allows public cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure to directly access and use data in the Equinix data center without migration.

Businesses are also turning to containers, particularly the K8 platform, for portability and scalability. To manage multiple K8 clusters across different clouds, financial institutions must adopt a unified K8 operations platform.

The paper also emphasises the importance of a unified IPaaS and API management platform for easier third-party integration, open banking support, and AI/ML capabilities. An IPaaS is a platform for building and deploying integrations within and between clouds and enterprise systems.

The release of the Equinix/Dell Technologies paper coincides with the unveiling of Dell Technologies Apex, a portfolio of as-a-service offerings for hybrid or multi-cloud strategies. Dell Technologies has partnered with Equinix to broaden the availability of Apex via Equinix International Business Exchange data centers.

The financial services industry is witnessing significant disruption. Non-banking service providers, including bigtechs like Google, Apple, and Amazon, are rapidly gaining ground. According to the 2019 World Retail Banking Report by Capgemini and Efma, 75% of tech-savvy customers use at least one financial product from a bigtech.

Success in the financial services industry is increasingly reliant on the flow of data across financial ecosystems. Incumbents must address secure data movement and low latency access to partners while complying with local data regulations. Neobanks and challenger banks, serving an estimated 39 million customer base, are projected to reach a valuation of US$578 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate of about 46.5%.

Data-gravity, the way data "attracts" other data and services, can make it difficult or impossible to access or migrate data as the amount of data continues to grow. It may become harder to extract value from it. Therefore, a data-first strategy is essential for financial institutions to navigate this complex landscape and thrive in the future.