Applications Hosted On Cloud Should Have BCP Plans Laid Out

  For financial inclusion, cloud computing will be helpful only for banks which are dependent on the application being provided as a service out of a public cloud. Anil Jaggia, CIO of HDFC Bank, in conversation with Biztech2.com spoke out his candid views on the relevance of cloud computing for banks and the inherent risks involved.

Does cloud computing really work for the banking sector considering the risks involved? And, what would you suggest as the right way for the banks to approach it?

The primary benefits with cloud computing are agility, self service and pay as per use. While it definitely has potential to benefit the banking sector, there are still a number of security related concerns. It might be prudent to consider cloud computing within the organisation (private cloud) initially . Setting up a private cloud will help improve utilisation of existing assets. Banks should conduct appropriate Risk Assessment exercises before considering adoption of cloud computing outside the organisation (public cloud)

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Considering banks cannot afford downtime of any sort, how do they deal with a possible cloud downtime scenario?

It is not recommended to move any mission critical applications to the cloud given the current cloud scenario. Banks should test the cloud with Tier 2 and Tier 3 applications after managing the risks associated with the cloud for these applications. The applications hosted on the cloud should have their own BCP plans laid out.

Can cloud computing really aid the financial inclusion drive by the banks in India?

Cloud computing will be helpful only for banks which are dependent on the application being provided as a service out of a public cloud. For banks which will host their applications internally for financial inclusion, there might not be great benefits. Depending on the architecture of the application system for financial inclusion, a private cloud will help speed up the process of implementation.

For financial inclusion, banks should consider using cloud computing for facets where there are no security risks / risk of data being compromised, viz., messaging, collaboration, etc.

What services you suggest should be offered via the cloud?

Applications like messaging, video conferencing, test and development environments can be offered via the cloud. Based on how this area matures over time, other services can be considered. Internally on a private cloud, Infrastructure-as-a-Service is a primary choice of service.