Cloud computing’s future lies with financial services

With cloud computing surging in popularity among the IT sector, it seems to be only a matter of time before it is accepted by the financial services industry as well. While financial services are more regulated than most industries adopting the cloud, cloud computing has a future in finances, wrote Crystal Bedell wrote for SearchFinancialSecurity.com.

Financial services still want to work out cloud regulatory compliance before full adopting it, said Kevin McPartland, a senior analyst at the Tabb Group. "The cloud is certainly on everyone's radar, but there are a lot of issues still to be resolved on the process and regulatory side," he said to Bedell.

However, some banks and financial institutions have cautiously moved forward with cloud computing. "Take the applications and use cases that you think might work in a cloud environment and try them one at a time,” advised McPartland.

When banks do fully latch onto cloud computing, one expert believes it will improve their security. "Before, every desktop was vulnerable. Now... they can't plug in USB devices or CD burners," said Bryan Nash, senior vice president of IT and CIO at McHenry Savings Bank.

The security advantages of cloud computing have become more public lately. Recently, whistleblower site WikiLeaks was saved from a denial-of-service attack by moving its data to a cloud server.