The global COVID-19 outbreak has negatively impacted businesses in many different industries throughout the world. Remote working is increasingly becoming the “new normal” for many people.
Employees are able to perform most of their daily tasks from home, and don’t need to be at a physical office to get work done. This may help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
As businesses move to remote working environments and increase their use and dependence on digital platforms and services, Fintech “simply can’t remain in stasis,” according to Amir Sarhangi, VP Product at Ripple.
He notes:
“To date, a large part of the [financial] industry’s lockdown-induced holding pattern stems from its reliance on outdated technology that can’t keep up with customers’ fast-evolving needs brought about by the pandemic’s impact.”
He points out that the World Bank now considers remittance payments to be an essential service. This indicates that we need faster and more effective adoption of digital financial services, which can potentially make remittances more affordable and also more convenient during these challenging times.
He suggests that cloud-powered solutions can “help payments technology keep in-step with the remote workforce.” Cloud solutions remove the pain for financial service providers to procure and maintain their own hardware equipment, Sarhangi explains. They also make it easier to install and run the software, while maintaining a dedicated support team for 24/7 monitoring, which is very important during these times, Sarhangi noted.
Cloud technology allows companies to update their IT systems remotely and on a regular basis, Sarhangi explains. He notes that businesses are able to save money when using cloud-enabled platforms because they need not purchase and maintain on-premise hardware or pay employees to manage this software.
He points out that RippleNet Cloud is one such recommended solution that can help companies with navigating the “new normal” of working remotely.
He notes:
“RippleNet Cloud is delivered to customers as a service, allowing customers to connect to more than 300 financial institutions in Ripple’s global blockchain payments network without the need to install on-premises software or onerous internal processes to procure new hardware and databases.”
RippleNet Cloud is updated after every three months, so that new features and functionality can be deployed quickly and in a reliable manner, Sarhangi wrote.
He adds:
“The need to modernize with solutions like cloud will supercharge the competitive advantage of innovative banks over their slower-moving rivals — now more than ever. The more agile and innovative players that are already using banking-as-a-service tech platforms to revolutionize their cost-to-serve and cost-to-change are ideally placed to easily and cheaply plug into emerging blockchain networks, AI engines and other generation-defining fintech capabilities.”
