Banking on cloud has already generated significant momentum from the IT community, and it looks like it will continue to gain steam as time goes on. What is banking cloud and how does it relate to SMBs? Is it a threat or an advantage? In short, the answer depends on your business needs. While there are several benefits to using a virtual bank (notably speed and cost savings), there are also some disadvantages for small businesses that haven’t been adequately addressed by banking cloud providers.
The first thing to know is this: There aren’t many banks offering cloud services yet, so you won’t be the first to realize that something is missing. What banks are offering at this point are “custom” solutions that require the use of a URL, which is fine for small operations, but may not cut it for larger banks that want to take advantage of banking cloud services on a grand scale.
For these types of companies, there is a third-party technology solution that can provide them what they need without having to worry about technology gaps, or spending large amounts of money on setting up a bank branch in a new location. For now, smaller banks that don’t have the budget to invest in the technology needed to get started should stick with what they already have, and focus on growing their business using cloud services provided by third-party providers.
The banking cloud is here to stay, though there are certainly more questions than answers right now. Smaller banks should continue to use what they have, and focus on improving their customer experiences if they want to see significant change in the next year or two.
If you have a small bank, you don’t have to have thousands of customers in your office to make this type of switch, and if you have a larger bank, you don’t have to have a virtual branch. It doesn’t matter what size your bank is, what matters most is that you’re using technology to leverage your bank’s existing infrastructure to get more done in less time. In the end, this can only be good for your business.
