Microsoft has reaffirmed its commitment to assisting financial services providers in Kenya with specialized Cloud solutions in their digital transformation journeys.
The commitment comes at a time when businesses are grappling with the negative economic effects of COVID-19, and the rise in the digital shift by banks and other financial institutions.
However, the majority of those polled believe their digital maturity is still in its early stages; these FSPs should prioritize change as a business priority.
A huge focus of the specialized cloud solutions is to help FSPs combat financial crime. As such, users can employ the cloud’s enhanced data analytics to identify outliers faster to respond to the newest criminal topologies, and to conduct ongoing risk scoring. Microsoft’s solution also helps FSPs enhance fraud-detection systems to add contextual information that will reduce false positive alerts.
Speaking during a virtual digital transformation forum for the financial services industry (FSI), Hoda Younan, marketing and operations director for Microsoft Middle East and Africa said, “Microsoft is uniquely placed to empower Africa’s FSPs by bringing together existing and new industry capabilities to deliver a more seamless, customised cloud-based experience,” said Younan. “With deep security and compliance built in to meet the needs of the FSI, the proposed digital transformation roadmap future-proofs FSPs as they continue to manage unprecedented risks and grow rapidly with innovative business models.”
Also speaking at the event, Kendi Ntwiga, Country Manager for Microsoft Kenya said, “First, we’ve seen changes in employee work patterns that have shaped a hybrid workforce, as well as the increasingly sophisticated customer expectations for a 24-hour-a-day service at their fingertips with the same level of security as a physical vault.”
The other benefit covers the need to modernize core banking systems and operations such as payments, to boost customer experiences in an increasingly digitized data-driven economy. In streamlining operations and infrastructure, this benefit also helps FSPs save on costs and increase real-time business agility.
“It’s clear that any FSP looking to modernize, automate, streamline, and secure processes and operations need look no further than a robust cloud-based ecosystem to achieve it,” concluded Younan.