The pandemic has led to a spike in adoption of online banking apps in the UK, to the detriment of traditional banks, all of which face the need to become more digital. Mobile applications have thus experienced one of the biggest booms in terms of use: around 50% of French customers would be ready for an exclusively digital experience, even if the latter must be further improved, according to the conclusions of a Bain and Company study. In a rapidly evolving sector, lesser-known banks have managed to establish themselves as major challengers because they have made a point of offering an exceptional online experience. To remain competitive, traditional banks must take inspiration from this in order to expand their own offering by offering a seamless experience to their existing and future customers.
Banks have understood that technological progress is not enough to achieve total digital transformation. These professionals must continually invest in their infrastructure to retain their customers. At a time when more and more people are relying on online banking applications, it is becoming imperative to offer a smooth user experience to stand out from the growing competition. Efficient storage solutions form the backbone that underpins and guarantees customer access to a digital banking ecosystem. By prioritizing the customer experience and protecting its data, the financial services sector has the means to meet the growing demand for online banking services, with a superior user experience for customers of all ages and socio-demographic categories.
Ever-increasing storage needs
The way customers interact with their bank or financial institutions has changed dramatically, moving from printed documents to data stored online and in the cloud. France would have lost almost 3,000 branches in 10 years: it had 34,298 bank branches at the end of 2022, according to the European Central Bank. This shift to digital, as well as the advent of neobanks (100% online banks with no physical branches) has led to a significant increase in the production of data and metadata. As a result, these growing volumes of data call for stable, scalable and more innovative solutions. These volumes of data collected fluctuate from one bank to another, as do their storage needs, depending on the digital processes of each establishment. In all cases, a bank, whether hybrid with physical premises and an online presence, or a neobank, also needs very robust solutions capable of facilitating the management of its activities in connection with its reinforced online presence .
Before the advent of modern banking, financial institutions only kept basic data relating to their customers – surname/first names, date of birth, address and account number. With the boom in online banking, these institutions have set out to collect more actionable data from their customers’ transactions. This is the case for metadata relating to customer consumption habits with the aim of identifying potential risks in the event of a credit request, via the implementation of risk management processes and the use of information collected during customer surveys. With the increasing implementation of artificial intelligence technologies, banks are collecting rich information that needs to be stored, managed and secured to ensure personal data protection. Financial institutions must reassess their current storage needs to implement more efficient, resizable solutions that can adapt to their changing data needs.
Flash memory storage, particularly SSD drives, has been very popular among businesses and financial institutions since the late 1980s due to its speed and short turnaround times for data recovery. SSDs provide quicker access to so-called hot data than traditional hard drives, which are more allocated to storing so-called cold or warm data.
Banks have the opportunity to exploit flash storage to quickly accomplish data-intensive tasks, for example those related to processing their customers’ transactions and analyzing information in real time. When it comes to data management, SSDs used for hot storage play an equally important role as hard drives adopted for cold storage. Hot storage is critical for information that banks need immediate access to, such as transactional data. Conversely, cold storage is useful for archival data. Hard drives do not necessarily offer the same speed of access for data recovery, but their capacities are greater, for an attractive price per terabyte, synonymous with an attractive total cost of ownership (TCO). When it comes to archival data, the required degree of accessibility is one of the main considerations. While backups and archives are recoverable, it may take several minutes or hours for archived cold data. With different manual requests depending on the type and size of the files concerned.
With modern banking, institutions are integrating data analytics and AI into their storage solutions. According to analyst forecasts, the AI-powered storage market is expected to be worth around $25 billion globally by the end of 2025. AI can be used to identify and optimize a bank’s storage needs , segment this data into required live and archived data as appropriate. It can even automate storage management processes based on defined deadlines.
Staying the course in the face of new cutting-edge banks
Digital and brick-and-mortar banks are under pressure to keep pace with evolving expectations for optimal customer experiences. This requires high-performance, high-capacity storage solutions that will guarantee the user a smooth experience, combined with rapid access to their data and services.
The future of online banking will be placed under the sign of optimized practicality for the customer, which requires, on the establishment side, to have the ad hoc infrastructure. To remain competitive, banks must strengthen their storage solutions to stand out in a highly competitive market. The growth of digital banking has led to colossal quantities of archiving and living data. Banks that invest in resizable and secure solutions can deliver personalized experiences to their customers. Real-time transactions and data-driven insights will be trusted by consumers, creating a strong connection with long-time and new customers. Efficient storage solutions will enable the sector to improve performance.