September 9, 2020

From Legacy to Leading Edge: Regional Bank Transforms into the Cloud

by: Align

Regional Bank Transforms into the Cloud

ALIGN’S MANAGED AZURE SOLUTION CUTS COSTS, REDUCES RISK AND PROVIDES A PLATFORM FOR GROWTH

The Overview

A regional bank had a mandate to streamline operations, enhance security, achieve technology stability, and improve client and employee satisfaction. In an effort to fulfill this requirement, the executive team engaged Align to lead this IT transformation program.


To initiate the program, our team worked with key stakeholders to understand the challenges impacting their business and operations. The areas we addressed were:

 

scalable

Growth & Scalability

Security-Icon-2

Security

connectivity

Connectivity & Stability

audit

Audit & Compliance

dataprivacy

Data Privacy 

legacy

Legacy Applications

regulatory

Regulatory Requirements

DR

Business Continuity

Other organizational challenges included managing hundreds of users across dozens of branches, legacy data centers (primary and disaster recovery), disparate technology suppliers, and overstaffed IT support team. Add to that, a lack of IT transparency, budget controls and documentation throughout the organization – the bank was exposed to risk with a high TCO.

In developing the right solutions, Align needed to assess the following areas: 

  • Application and Infrastructure Discovery
  • End-User & Branch Technology
  • Application Inventory & Dependency Mapping
  • Cybersecurity and Compliance
  • Network Topology and Connectivity
  • Data Governance, Integrity and Record Retention
  • Data Center and Core Bank Infrastructure
  • Data-to-Day Support
  • Network Access Control, Backup and Restore
  • Transition to Managed Service Model

The Solution - A secure usage-based managed cloud platform 

Technology transformations require precise planning, strict oversight, and a highly experienced project management team to deliver results. Align took a phased approach to ensure that all the required elements were captured from the start. We used our proven methodology with key senior stakeholders to ensure all the necessary options and decisions were communicated, vetted and agreed upon quickly.

Featured Highlights - Align's Azure SolutionWe structured the program into four distinct phases. The first phase addressed the current critical infrastructure issues – which immediately improved the current risk profile of the bank.


At the same time, our support staff was familiarizing themselves with the environment and improving the end-user experience. Concurrently, our audit and engineering teams were discovering and planning the future state program to enhance and truly transform the environment to the Managed Cloud Platform.

 

Align's Four Phased Proven Methodology

1. Current State Assessment

  • Application inventory & dependency mapping
  • Network connectivity Data centers
  • Branch offices
  • 3rd-party vendors
  • End-user technology

2. On-Site Support Staff Outsource

  • HQ & branch support
  • Data center support
  • End-user technology enhancements
  • Day-to-day support of banking systems, network & connectivity

3. Technology Transformation

  • Planning & testing
  • Application migration, consolidation & cut-over
  • Decommission of legacy technologies
  • Documentation & transition to managed services provider

4. Managed Cloud Services

  • Device & network monitoring
  • 24 ×7×365 support
  • Proactive cybersecurity program
  • Patching, back-up and incident management
  • Digitized business processes
  • Ability to do Multi-Cloud

 

The Results

Our transformation program reduced the bank’s annual IT spend by 50% - but that was just the start. We further improved their bottom line by increasing operational efficiency and reducing business risk through documenting and standardizing the environment and implementing controls that did not exist. Thanks to this transformation, the bank achieved stability, ensured efficiency, and met compliance standards including data protection, privacy laws and other regulations.


The bank is now experiencing positive growth and is currently in acquisition mode.

     Benefits of IT with Align's Managed Services    

  Cost Reduction

  • Predictable annual Opex IT spend
  • Reduced in-house resources including technology and admin staff
  • Scalable technology services as needed

 

  End-User Experience

  • 24x7x365 uptime
  • Increased collaboration
  • Access from anywhere
  • Enhanced security platform

 

  Growth & Operational Efficiency

  • Advanced data loss prevention
  • Automated software updates
  • High availability with data protection and recovery
  • Scalable growth plan

 

Schedule a Call Today

 

★★★★★

“Align is our trusted provider for all our Managed Services and cybersecurity needs. They provide us best-in-class IT services that not only help drive productivity and growth, but ensure we meet both current and evolving compliance and security requirements with ease. As consultants to financial advisors, trust and reliability are indispensable to our operations, which is why we never hesitate to refer Align to our very own client base. Align isn’t just our partner, they are an extension of our team. We look forward to entrusting them with our IT infrastructure for years to come.”

Ed Fasano - Experienced Advisory Consultants LLC