All across the globe, banks are betting big on the ability of cloud services and AI to optimize processes, mitigate risk and drive innovative new customer experiences. However, when it comes to the safety of sensitive customer data, security always takes top priority. This is especially true of Swiss banks. Long regarded as a bastion of conservatism, Swiss banks have built a reputation for steadfastly safeguarding the interests of their clients. Many Swiss banks have been hesitant to embrace the agility of the cloud, instead favoring a combination of best-in-breed security solutions coupled with on-prem servers.

However, given the growing sophistication of security threats, such an approach may no longer be adequate to protect against cybercrime, especially for tier-2 and tier-3 banks that may lack access to the tools and specialized knowledge necessary to keep pace. Compounding matters, this type of legacy systems approach can drive up operating costs and limit the ability of banks to deliver on the future needs and demands of their customers.

This was the exact position our client, Syz Bank, was looking to avoid. The organization has long differentiated itself with an innovative outlook and a penchant for challenging the status quo. Fueled by its unique ideology, Syz Bank chose to embark on a complex journey to migrate all IT services from on-premises servers to Azure systems. In doing so, Syz Bank planned to improve its security posture, reduce its operating expenses and, more importantly, break down silos to drive agility through all facets of the business. In this ambitious and challenging cloud migration journey, EPAM served as a strategic partner to help Syz Bank go all-in on digital transformation, leveraging our extensive expertise in data and service migrations to the cloud.

ALL IN ON CLOUD

The decision to migrate services to the cloud was rooted in a number of strategic considerations. The primary goal was to uphold robust security standards capable of meeting the bank’s high expectations in an evolving global threat landscape. The journey began when the bank conducted an assessment of its cybersecurity strategy, evaluating the effectiveness of the industry leading solutions being used to protect its on-premises data center over the next 10 years. The assessment showed that ensuring the system met the bank’s exacting standards would require substantially higher costs than anticipated. This led Syz Bank to consider shifting the paradigm: By moving all of its IT operations to the cloud, not only could they achieve a higher standard of security, they could also better control these costs. 

In addition, the company was actively exploring new digital tools and services to differentiate itself from competitors, enhance the client experience, and provide employees with more flexible, mobile hardware for their daily work. However, due to the limitations of its legacy systems, empowering and scaling workforce flexibility and real-time collaboration — as well as enabling new data-driven decision-making and AI solutions — would be difficult. 

Given the cloud and data capabilities made possible by this transformation, Syz Bank would also be positioned for future deployments of new AI-enabled tools and services that could help further optimize operations and drive improved user experiences.

As such, Syz Bank entrusted EPAM with designing and engineering its security architecture. Taking into account the unique needs and considerations of the bank, EPAM helped implement numerous layers of security on top of the Azure cloud’s already advanced framework. The adoption of Microsoft's Zero Trust Security model was recognized as a crucial factor in achieving both cost efficiency and robust data protection. Best of all, this new security standard could be extended to its employees’ hardware, enabling a new level of collaboration and mobility as they moved from fixed workstations to secure laptops. 

PUTTING OPERATIONS AND DATA INTEGRITY FIRST

This resulted in Syz Bank becoming the first cloud-native private bank in the country. Given the perception of on-premise databases as the pinnacle of data privacy, the project faced intense scrutiny. EPAM ensured the company’s data and reputation remained protected by implementing a carefully planned migration leveraging our expertise in high-security operations.

As such, the migration of the data to the cloud was approached with the utmost concern to eliminate any vectors that could lead to data being lost, altered or leaked. Thanks to our cloud expertise, EPAM was able to handle this process entirely seamlessly, with no interruptions to the business during the migration process. In other words, EPAM was able to completely rebuild the bank’s IT operations while it was running, without any disruption. This was key to ensuring high user perception, satisfaction and adoption of the new capabilities the migration would bring to bear. 

RESULTS

Executing as a team, EPAM’s experts transferred the entirety of the bank’s IT infrastructure — including hundreds of applications and workflows — to the cloud. EPAM also replaced outdated hardware with modern laptops and mobile devices and trained users on new tools and applications, providing white glove service and training for bank staff to help support adoption. 

Quoting Doug Morris, Senior Director of Delivery Management and Program Director for this project, “It’s not enough for us to simply hand over a new solution, no matter how great a fit we think it might be. To enable adoption of the new hardware and services, we had to answer two questions. First, ‘How do I do the work today that I was doing yesterday?’ It was critical for us to show employees how efficiently they could now conduct their daily tasks. The second question we needed to address was, ‘What does this new hardware enable me to do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?’ Addressing this question required training at multiple touchpoints, from when employees first interacted with the new hardware to ongoing skills enhancement. By adding that extra layer of care we were able to move beyond simply providing updated technology to providing a solution that drives lasting differentiation.” 

As a result, Syz Bank was able to immediately begin scaling new tools and services to its entire employee population, enabling a new level of agility and flexibility for its financial advisors. In doing so, Syz Bank was able to realize:

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