Microsoft is making its financial services-specific cloud offering generally available from next month, with Virgin Money UK on board as an early user.
First unveiled in February, Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services promises a foundation of privacy, security, and regulatory compliance.
In a blog, corporate vice president, worldwide financial services, Bill Borden, says the offering integrates cloud services across Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Power Platform, underpinned by an industry data model.
Borden claims the industry-specific cloud will improve the experience of retail banking employees and customers, helping with unified customer profiles, onboarding, customer engagement and collaboration.
Fraser Ingram, chief digital and innovation officer at early adopter Virgin Money UK, says: “At Virgin Money UK we are always looking at ways to innovate and deliver a world class, digital customer experience. We see Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services accelerating that journey of digitizing our customer experience, while enabling us to scale and grow."
Microsoft has also lined up a host of service partners, including Accenture, Finastra and Zafin.
Zafin CEO Al Karim Somji says: "Together, Zafin and Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services are empowering bank employees with actionable insights by enabling the unified customer profile to deliver product and package recommendations driven by the industry data model, helping ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, and accelerating their digital transformation strategies.”