Multi-cloud is the new trend

Note: Cloud computing is no longer an information technology phase, it has become an essential trend in Viet Nam, especially for the banking industry.

According to Mr. Tran Nhat Minh, VIB Deputy General Director and Head of Technology Division, multi-cloud is crucial due to its relations with personal data security and large storage capacity.

Forbes stated that Cloud Computing is one of the most important innovations in this information age. "In the US, in 2020, if you're still evaluating whether to move to the cloud, you're behind 90% of companies. Cloud adoption is already mainstream and large enterprise workloads are already in the cloud."

Vietnamese enterprises are actively moving to the cloud. Since mid-September, the market has continuously received information regarding the collaboration of cloud computing deployment from three of the world's leading technology corporations, AWS, Google, and Microsoft, with big names in Viet Nam, including banks.

Mr. Tran Nhat Minh, VIB Deputy CEO and CTO, has shared some thoughts on the cloud computing trend in Viet Nam’s banking industry and the multi-cloud strategy that VIB is pioneering as one of the first banks in Viet Nam to deploy via the agreement with Microsoft.

What do you think about the cloud computing trend of enterprises in the world and in Viet Nam?

Cloud computing has been around for 20 years but has only turned into a big buzz in the last five years. AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology combined with the cloud has become a perfect match, giving businesses a superior competitive advantage. Netflix has moved to the cloud for five years. Bank of America has migrated its data center to the cloud two years ago; JP Morgan Chase teamed up with AWS (Amazon Web Services) in data analysis. CBA Bank (Australia) announced that 25 per cent of applications will be running on the cloud in the next five years and this number will not be under 95 per cent.

Moving to the cloud is a new essential trend over the globe, including for Vietnamese enterprises. The proof that shows how impactful this trend is in Viet Nam is the collaboration of the three big tech companies with big names in Viet Nam in late September, including two banks. It is no longer a concept but an essential trend here, especially in the banking industry. 

Photo: Mr. Tran Nhat Minh, VIB Deputy CEO and CTO

Could you please tell us the current status regarding the cloud computing transformation of Vietnamese enterprises in general and the banking industry in particular?

Recently, it is popular for small and medium enterprises to move to the cloud. However, large enterprises are still considering the move. One of the obstacles that these businesses face is the legacy IT system and their IT engineering team is familiar with the way this system works, so it is challenging to change immediately. The banking industry has fewer banks to announce a move to the cloud due to the cyber securities and customers’ personal information. 

In December 2019, the State Bank of Vietnam issued the 'Strategy on the development of information technology in Vietnam’s banking industry to 2025, with an orientation to 2030', which also determined that by 2025, 60 per cent of Vietnamese banks will use the cloud and, by 2030, all banks and credit institutions will use the cloud. Based on IDC’s August 2020 report, 40 per cent of surveyed banks shared their plan to transfer to a hybrid cloud environment within 12-24 months.

In October 2020, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular 09 that allows banks to move their third-, fourth, and fifth-level data onto the cloud if they meet the attached regulations. We believe that this circular is game-changing that helps to promote moving to the cloud for the banking industry.

What makes VIB’s cloud computing plan different?

The difference in our strategy is VIB is multi-cloud. The pandemic has changed the way we work and live. The demand for digital transformation in financial institutions has become urgent. That makes investing in multi-cloud the leading way, especially when it comes to personal data security and large storage capacity.

It is important to choose the platform that helps to simplify the multi-cloud management process. We acknowledge it will be more challenging to deploy multi-cloud, but this will bring competitive advantages to VIB and more benefits to our valued customers.

Could you tell us how the multi-cloud model benefits the bank?

The multi-could model uses various cloud computing services from different providers, in an inconsistent environment. This deployment has the flexibility that allows the corporation to choose various providers that offer the best solutions for each specific demand, meet the needs of constantly maximizing growing computing capacity with innovative technology solutions. The flexibility of multi-cloud plays an important role in accelerating and driving organizations’ innovation.

Secondly, the time and cost benefits. The multi-cloud helps to shorten a record system deployment time or to apply new technology. And we can experience more similar clouds to choose the most suitable and cost-effective solution. Shortening service deployment time allows businesses to serve customers better. Accordingly, users also have a smoother experience with the bank's digital services.

How has VIB prepared for the data transference to the cloud?

VIB started the cloud transference plan many years ago with the preparation of the elements of technology resources and personnel. In early 2021, we brought several applications to the AWS cloud. With the recently announced partnership agreement with Microsoft, VIB will accelerate the migration and storage of the bank’s applications and business platforms to the Microsoft Azure cloud. During the process, the bank is simultaneously modernizing and shifting workloads including business applications and end-user computing needs on this new platform.

Before that, we organized hundreds of training sessions in the field of cloud computing over the past 18 months for our technical engineers. VIB technical engineers have signed up for nearly 1,000 courses to learn and deploy cloud computing to meet the plan of moving to the cloud.

What are the advantages and challenges that VIB has faced during the process of moving to the cloud?

We live in a "flat" world, our advantage is that we can update all information and new technology quickly. But there are significant challenges in moving to the cloud for banks at this stage.

The first challenge is to change the mindsets, views, and cultures. Moving data to the cloud is also moving from traditional banking to digital banking. The mindset between digital banking and traditional banking is different. Digital banking focuses on customer experience, simplicity is the core. Meanwhile, traditional banking is product-centric. Changing culture and changing mindsets is the biggest challenge.

The second challenge is staff qualifications. The digital age requires new skills such as design thinking, agile working, in-depth knowledge in design, implementation, operation, cloud management, Big Data, AI, and machine learning.

The third challenge is technology. Banks' technology systems are mainly legacy system, development and operation are time-consuming and expensive. When converting to the cloud, it is still necessary to maintain old systems and develop new systems in an overall technology architecture plan, harmoniously integrating between old and new systems, the bank's internal and external partner’s system.

As one of the leading banks in digital banking and customer experience on digital banking, VIB sees our challenges as our opportunities. We have and will invest a lot of resources as well as focus on medium and long-term development in the field of digital banking and products with high technology content.

What are your expectations about the collaboration with Microsoft to deploy cloud computing?

Digital banking and automation are our focus in VIB's medium and long-term development. We team up with Microsoft to create breakthroughs in service speed, innovation and continuously bring the best digital banking experiences to our customers. This is one of the important categories in VIB's digitalization strategy to combine the outstanding advantages of the world's leading technology partners into products and services and enhance the experience for Vietnamese users.

An Nhiên

(Theo Vietnamnews)