Mobile banking can be a bellwether to other sectors in identifying best practices for ‘availability’. Keeping the present scenario of the digital economy in India, it has become even more relevant to have an Always-On banking infrastructure and an even stronger backup system.
The recent demonetization of the 500 and 1000 rupees currency notes has provided a perfect platform to drive cashless transactions. This digital makeover will not only wipe out black money from the system, but also bring transactions to mainstream economy.
Mobile banking is among the key forces accelerating the pace of cashless transactions, and according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the top five banks account for more than 92 percent of the entire value of mobile banking transactions in the country. For these banks to drive consumer preference towards mobile banking, key technologies like cloud computing, automation and data centers will play a critical role in driving Availability.
According to a report by Zinnov, smartphone users in India are expected to reach 651mn by 2019. This massive smartphone user base coupled with demonetization provides Indian banks a great opportunity to accelerate mobile banking. However, with acute shortage of new currency notes, customer will expect ‘Always-On’ banking services with 24 x 7 x 365 data and app Availability.
High and accurate availability of information is critical for financial institutions to meet business demands. However, legacy backup systems are not only ill equipped to deliver Availability for business continuity but also fail to adhere to regulatory compliance in the absence of trusted sources of data. For example, the massive proliferation of mobile devices will lead to high magnitudes of peak traffic loads. A quick analysis of recent traffic patterns will be a good starting point for capacity planning and ensure Availability.
Today, not needing a browser for banking means people can access their banking services via mobile from their home, sitting on the train or waiting in line at a shop. Any breakdown in managing the additional load of online transactions will impact consumer confidence in a service, that has shown itself to yield significant consumer benefits.
According to the 2016 Veeam Availability report, 84 percent of senior IT decisions-makers across the globe admit to suffering an ‘Availability Gap’, which is essentially the difference between what their IT setup can deliver, and what their users are demanding. It costs up to $16 million a year in lost revenue and productivity, in addition to the negative impact on customer confidence and brand integrity.
Banking systems can anchor their offerings with key technologies like virtualization, modern storage systems and cloud technologies to enable digital transformation. Mobile banking demands applications and workloads to move in different environments, hence real-time monitoring is critical. Setting up periodic alerts on issues in virtual or physical environments will go a long way in ensuring availability, understanding the root cause of downtime, and meeting Service Level Agreements (SLA). To achieve this, Availability of data and applications in the hybrid cloud will be a critical to drive success.
Any failure to deliver continuous Availability will damage a service’s brand integrity. While ‘Always-On’ is considered an obvious parameter from a business perspective, financial services firms must mitigate any risk regarding downtime or delays. This is primarily to ensure service availability which in turn relates to positive customer feedback. IT teams should test beyond regular backups and test whether the system recovered specific files, or the entire system. Testing enables enhanced visibility for Availability in complex mobile environments.
Mobile banking can be a bellwether to other sectors in identifying best practices for Availability. Keeping the present scenario of the digital economy in India, it has become even more relevant to have an Always-On banking infrastructure and an even stronger backup system.
Irrespective of whether delivered on physical or cloud environment, an organization’s IT team should have the tools to conduct cyclical backups, strategize robust replication for disaster recovery (DR) and achieve business continuity.
A fast recovery and relentless service by banks will ensure the customers not only have a convenient mobile banking experience but also become true loyalists to endorse a bank’s mobile services.
Authored by Ashok Acharya, Regional Director, India and SAARC, Veeam