Cloud Technology Application in Banking Industry: A Case of NZ Bank in Australia

This report aims at the examination of the banking industry application of cloud technology a case of NZ bank in Australia. The report starts with the definition of several NZ banks core services. Secondly, the report examines the security as well as the privacy needs of NZ bank. The report further tries to check and report on the NZ bank needs which leads to the implementation of mainframe technology workloads such as batch and transactional workloads. The report also reports on the different identified benefits which NZ bank enjoys as a result of using cloud technology. The report also develops the several services which are offered by mainframe technology to the banking industry and finally the recommendation of as too why most banks are continually using mainframes.

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Running Head: ITECH1104 - CLOUD AND ENTERPRISE COMPUTING
Itech1104 - Cloud And Enterprise Computing
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Executive summary
This report aims at the examination of the banking industry application of cloud
technology a case of NZ bank in Australia. The report starts with the definition of several
NZ banks core services. Secondly, the report examines the security as well as the
privacy needs of NZ bank. The report further tries to check and report on the NZ bank
needs which leads to the implementation of mainframe technology workloads such as
batch and transactional workloads. The report also reports on the different identified
benefits which NZ bank enjoys as a result of using cloud technology. The report also
develops the several services which are offered by mainframe technology to the
banking industry and finally the recommendation of as too why most banks are
continually using mainframes.
Introduction
Generally, a bank has the mandate of the provision of financial services to her
customers; through this individuals are able to manage their lives. With the increased
rate of technology advancement as well as competition in the Australian banking
industry, there has been an expansion on the services which banks in the nation offer to
their customers. Through this, the institutions are able to live according to the current
state of the globe as well as attract more customers. Regardless of whether an
individual is opening the first account or have been managing a checking account for
several years, this will help in the identification of different bank services which are
available in the banking industry.

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Core NZ bank activities
An example of the banking institution in Australia which has embraced cloud
technology is NZ bank. Some of its core functions or services to its customers are, the
individual banking service. This is a package which allows a customer to be able to
operate checking accounts, make use of debit and credit cards, open and operate a
saving account, access insurance services and finally be able to manage his wealth.
The next core activities or services offered by a bank is the business banking package.
Almost all banks globally offer financial services to business owners. There are several
types of business banking services including; offering business loans, opening and
operation of checking accounts, the operation of the merchant services such as credit
card processing, reporting and reconciliation and checks collections, access to debit as
well as credit cards and finally the treasury package which is able to provide payroll and
deposit services to a business (Four Different Types of Services | Banking, n.d.).
Finally, the banking industry also offers another core service which is the digital
banking; this is the freedom of customers as well as business owners to be able to
manage their finances online from devices such as tablets, computers and the
Smartphone (Four Different Types of Services | Banking, n.d.). Among the digital
banking services provided are, online mobile and tablet banking, text alerts, electronic
statements, and mobile checks as well as deposits.

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Banks security and privacy needs
As NZ banks operate in a highly regulated industry in the country there is a need
for the core services provided privacy as well as security. Starting from a deposit to
initiation of a project or withdrawal, banks are supposed to keep the compliance, risk,
legal and information security on what the bank is targeting to achieve. Bank are also
recognized as the best data security providers. This is because the financial positions of
individuals, as well as the business owners or partnership, need to be kept as a secret
buy the bank and the individuals (M, S, 2019). A leak in personal information or any
transaction of the bank can lead to massive money loss and destruction. The banking
industry requires data security and privacy in order to remain loyal and true to the
customers and protect every client as well as the bank itself.
NZ Banks need for ICT workloads
A workload in a cloud environment which is hybrid can be said to be a collection
or an independent service of code which can be executed. Hence a workload simply
means the task which needs to be done or a mission which needs to be accomplished
by computers and their resources under a given timeline. The banking industry is one of
the industries which are highly reliable in information technology workload. NZ bank will
highly require the database workload (Types of Workloads in a Hybrid Cloud
Environment, n.d.). This will enable the institution to be able to constitute its big data
and make critical decisions and also be able to accomplish a set number of transactions
on the computer systems. This database is also required for the storage of the bank
transactions as well as the customer’s transaction history.

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In addition, the banking industry will also depend on high analytic workloads. For
example, this workload is used by the NZ bank to make a comparison and benchmark
the performance of its partners as well as its competitors countrywide. Analytical
workloads simply require for a historical analysis of the data which was amended in
other workloads and make improvements where a benchmark gap is revealed. A batch
workload is needed by a banking institution in order to be able to initiate a high volume
of data processing. NZ Bank requires a batch workload in order to be able to record or
the electronic money transactions that take place in relation to the customers and
business accounts in the bank (Types of Workloads in a Hybrid Cloud Environment,
n.d.). A batch workload is generally executed on regular schedules by the NZ bank.
Cloud technology benefit to banks
As NZ Bank as a financial institution is grounded on data security trust, before
any individual decides to trust any bank the bank must also be in a position to trust the
data security system that it uses in its operations. Several benefits have been
encountered by the NZ Bank of Australia through the application and the use of cloud
technology in their operations. The first benefit is the data security, NZ Bank through the
application of cloud technology have been lucky to enjoy data security as most
providers such as (ERP) enterprise resource planning software are keen on every loop
which may exist in the system (Understanding different types of cloud computing and
their benefits, 2017). Moreover, the cloud system is updated automatically after a short
while of time hence maintaining its integrity.

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The removal of mundane transactions also has helped the bank to focus on
value-adding transactions such as the analysis of the growth opportunities as well as
threats of the bank and making necessary steps to achieve their set goals. Moreover, a
lot of time which is wasted in maintaining the internal data security system by the
employees of the bank is eliminated. Furthermore, through the application of cloud
technology by the banking industry, the overall infrastructure cost is cut to more than
40% (Understanding different types of cloud computing and their benefits, 2017). The time
also wasted in advancing the internal systems is also saved through the use of cloud
technology.
Mainframe technology used by banks
Among the cloud services which are applicable and used by the banking industry
in Australia specifically, the NZ Bank are; recovery as a service or (RaaS). This is a
solution on a database which allows the financial institution to replace the existing
backup, disaster recovery as well as the archive in a single integrated system. Through
this service the banking industry needs to worry less of any lost data as all will be
recovered from a single server system. Secondly, is the software as a service or the
(SaaS). Through this cloud service, the banks will be able to enjoy fully functional web-
based application upon demand by customers this service is mainly targeted to
business account users and may include, ERP, web conferencing, CRM, time
management, email, and project tracking (Cloud Computing: See Why Mainframes Still
Matter, 2019). Another service provided by cloud technology is the, (PaaS) or the
platform as a service. This is a more advanced infrastructure as a service. With this

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service away from the provision of infrastructure, the providers also make computing
platforms and solution stacks to be services. This service is mostly used by companies.
Why banks still embrace mainframes
There are several factors which have led to the continued use of mainframes in
the banking sector. Among the Australian banks which still have kept mainframe at the
centre of its operation is NZ Bank. Several reasons for the continued use of this system
are that, the mainframe is able and is always in a position to deliver continually uptime.
Through this, the banks are able to avoid one of their greatest fears of outages.
Moreover, through the use of mainframes, the businesses are able to maintain
customers as well as offer fast, secure and reliable services. A mainframe is in a
position to leverage new assets for the purpose of the meeting and growing mobile
needs (Mainframes are used increasingly by major banks and financial institutions,
2017).
The mainframe is in a position to adapt and accommodate any changes and can
be able to track immediate electronic transactions and record them. Also, the mainframe
is a technology which helps customers who require the instant financial data from any
part of the data hence encouraging more customers and attracting new ones. Finally,
the mainframe is a reliable technology as to supplier of the superior power of processing
which is suited to large scale firms. Moreover, the system is able to integrate
information and use it for different purposes (Mainframes are used increasingly by major
banks and financial institutions, 2017). Banks have continually used the mainframe as a

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result of its capability and adaptability which is industry-friendly as well as customer
friendly.
Conclusion
The mainframe has not yet diminished and it still operates in the cloud
technology regime. Through its adaptability feature as well as copying up with the
changing technology mainframe is able to offer a single infrastructure which is capable
of transmitting and offering massive storage and compute resources in the case where
the bank systems require them. A mainframe provides a wide variety of software
flexibility. Moreover in cases where the mainframe is run only one machine will be
required to be repaired and maintained (Discover 4 Main Benefits of Cloud Computing,
2018). Through the use of cloud technology NZ Bank has been in a position to survive
in the highly competitive industry as well as attracting more customers. Mainframe
technology is a more economical and simpler way as compared to maintaining more
than a dozen of the server commodity which is on-premise.

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References
Cloud Computing: See Why Mainframes Still Matter. (2019, May 16). Retrieved from
https://blog.syncsort.com/2017/08/mainframe/mainframes-matter-cloud-
computing/
Discover 4 Main Benefits of Cloud Computing. (2018, October 31). Retrieved from
https://www.trintech.com/blog/cloud-solutions/how-the-banking-industry-
benefits-from-cloud-computing/
Four Different Types of Services | Banking. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://localfirstbank.com/content/different-types-of-banking-services/
M, S. (2019, February 21). Data Privacy & User Protection in Banking & Finance.
Retrieved from https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/data-privacy-user-
protection-in-banking-finance-3ba53717d99b
Mainframes are used increasingly by major banks and financial institutions. (2017,
March 23). Retrieved from
https://www.planetmainframe.com/2017/03/mainframes-used-increasingly-
major-banks-financial-institutions/
Types of Workloads in a Hybrid Cloud Environment. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.dummies.com/programming/cloud-computing/hybrid-cloud/types-
of-workloads-in-a-hybrid-cloud-environment/
Understanding different types of cloud computing and their benefits. (2017, May 25).
Retrieved from https://www.chargebee.com/blog/understanding-types-cloud-
computing/