CLOUD modernization solutions can help Philippine financial institutions as they move to transition out of their outdated legacy systems, according to US-based software firm Rocket Software, Inc.
“Most financial institutions are very paranoid about cloud security and that’s one of the reasons the adoption rates are in a phased approach,” Praveen Kumar, vice-president for Asia-Pacific at Rocket Software said in a virtual interview.
In the Asia-Pacific, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India are among those that are lagging in terms of cloud adoption, he noted.
“I think the lagging is not because of lack of interest or technology. It’s just that the banking environment has matured to such a level that they’re able to provide very strong services from on-premises (on-prem) software,” Mr. Kumar said.
“So, they’re deciding which of the services go to the cloud and which don’t.”
A 2024 study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Institute showed that total cloud spending in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore is higher than 0.4% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Conversely, total cloud spending is less than 0.3% of GDP in the Republic of Korea (0.29%) Thailand (0.22%), Philippines (0.19%), India (0.16%), Vietnam (0.13%), and Indonesia (0.10%), the ADB Institute said.
Mr. Kumar said cloud security has evolved from an information technology (IT)-related issue to a company problem, citing the need for financial institutions to educate their staff on secure cloud adoption.
“If you don’t take care of your personal computer, laptop or home device, and that device connects to the cloud enterprise or the enterprise data center, you’re actually posing a risk for the company itself,” he said.
Rocket Software, which entered in the Philippine market in 2008, provides multiple technologies that assist companies in modernizing their legacy systems and moving to the cloud.
“If you move content, data, as well as applications which are residing on-prem but built over the years, we move them to the cloud and put it in a secure environment,” Mr. Kumar said.
“At Rocket, we have solutions, both from a content and a data perspective, where we allow most of your paper content to be available in digital form, and the ability to process some of the workflows digitally without the need for manual interventions,” he said.
Globally, cloud infrastructure spending is expected to reach $461.9 billion by 2029, according to the International Data Corp. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
