Newer IT Strategies for the Changing World

For more than 200 years, State Bank of India has played a key role in maintaining the stability of, and public confidence in, Indian Financial System. This system has become increasingly dependent on technology, with consumers relying upon the ease and immediacy of online, mobile and doorstep banking services. In the recent past, the concept of Industry 4.0 has revolutionised the way companies are conducting business. The applications of Industry 4.0 are rapidly rising in the financial sector as well. SBI has already taken measures to fine tune it’s IT Vision and Strategy in the journey of adopting Industry 4.0.

As the largest bank in India, we are integral to thousands of commercial entities and millions of personal lives. State Bank of India has always been a pioneer in the banking and finance sector for embracing technology and innovation to fulfil the customer needs. As the digital economy flourishes, SBI has grown its technology and channel platforms proportionately, and in some cases, is ahead of the curve. We have always evolved with the times to embrace new consumer attitudes and be aligned as a “Smart” Bank with the service levels that the new age consumer demands. Some of the technological solutions launched during the past few years are YONO, YONO Cash, Micro ATM, National Common Mobility Card, CRM, Passbook Printing Kiosks, Cash Recyclers, new AML/CFT solution, NAC implementation for enhanced security control, Software defined LAN & WAN for infrastructure security and better management. Bank has always focussed on exploring innovative solutions for improvement in processes, enhancement of customer experience, new business opportunities etc. Bank has also invested in a big way in private Cloud infrastructure to facilitate virtualised computing infrastructure environment.

Technology is evolving at an unprecedented rate, and so are customer expectations. There is huge potential of integration of digital technology with financial services. Consumers are increasingly using mobile technology to perform their banking transactions. With the boom in the mobile technology, use of technology by the rural population has taken reach of Banking to new heights. As a result, use of mobile applications, UPI payments, IMPS etc. is on the rise among rural citizens as well. SBI has recognised that a truly differentiated strategy is required as the industry’s economics have come under pressure from new technology and Fintechs with disruptive business models. The key enablers for SBI’S future IT vision and strategies are technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, 5G, Infrastructure as a Code, Containerisation, Software Defined Data Centres, security from the start of development and operations (Devsecops), mixed-reality, analytics using next generation data ware house, smart infrastructure, predictive security controls with next generation Security Operation Centre etc.

In response to the evolving forces of customer expectations and to cater to the need of supporting multiple languages, Bank’s customer facing applications are able to provide better customer experience and in the choice of language selected by the customer. Doorstep banking using simple responsive mobile application and through CSPS are also being emphasised because of demand for such solutions. SBI is continuously exploring

and leveraging new technologies to rollout innovative solutions by actively engaging with the Start-up ecosystem and through collaboration with Fintechs with a special focus for rural customer base.

SBI’S current IT Vision and Strategy plan provides a clear, reliable, and up-todate and secure IT path towards increasing our IT capabilities and modernising our services and protecting our people, processes and information against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Most importantly, this plan ensures that our IT systems are aligned with the SBI’S Vision, Mission and Values.

Enterprise Architecture

State Bank of India has embarked on a very important initiative of implementing Enterprise Architecture (EA) principles and practices to achieve the goals of effectiveness, efficiency, agility, durability, reduce development costs, manage lifecycles of technology infrastructures effectively, create and update IT inventory (applications, data, technologies, middleware), manage legacy IT resources and to simplify the current complex IT landscape in order to respond more effectively to constantly changing market conditions. SBI is uniquely applying the methodology to fine tune and standardise various processes and technologies in order to align business and technology and creating a common platform for both business and technology that facilitates efficient teamwork and inter-organisation communication.

This initiative is further being enhanced by implementing an industry recognised EA tool which will not only give us various architecture views but also customised dashboards and reports to take strategic and tactical decisions by the leaders in the Bank. This is a journey that will mature over a period of years.

Cloud Policies

SBI has been an early adopter of cloud and had launched its own private cloud “Meghdoot” in 2012. Initially “Meghdoot” started as an experiment to analyse and study private cloud practices. It grew in a staggered manner from offering development/test environments and then UAT and eventually production environment for applications. With Meghdoot, Bank has been able to build efficiencies within its datacenter by consolidating required server, network and storage infrastructure. The future roadmap of Meghdoot is to make it a Software Defined Data Centre (SDDC) to provide on-demand services like Paas (Platform as a Service), Baas (Backup as a Service), Naas (Networking as a Service) and Saas(software as a Service) etc. like any other public cloud services.

As the RBI direction has now provided scope for leveraging public and hybrid clouds, we at SBI realigned our cloud strategy to be future ready. A hybrid approach is a way to take advantage of public cloud while protecting sensitive data on the private cloud. Hybrid cloud solution, which involves a mix of on-premises, private and public cloud services, in order to achieve greater scalability and integrated communication between disparate systems. Innovations where new technologies and capabilities need fewer and niche infrastructure requirements can be the early uses of public cloud.

We realise that adoption of public cloud is a “Business Model Transformation” and brings in business agility for the next level of growth. However, considering the concerns around security, regulation/compliance and control in a public cloud, SBI has decided to follow an incremental approach. We are applying public cloud computing to few noncore operations first and then scaling up as we see the benefits. Bank has already ventured into public cloud Saas by using email services from Microsoft Office 365 platform and Sharepoint online for collaboration and document storage.

While cloud-only strategy may be the ultimate goal, it’s often easier for large organisations to start with a commitment to implement cloudfirst strategy. A cloudfirst strategy is an organisational commitment to evaluate cloud-based solutions before considering alternatives. Unlike a cloud-only strategy, it doesn’t eliminate other solutions, thereby allowing for greater flexibility.

Faster innovation and lower costs are key considerations for any technology adoption. Cloud is the catalyst for a host of disruptive technologies, from Chatbots to AI, ML, NLP, to Blockchain and IOT. Cloud technologies will help SBI redefine modernisation, innovation, and meet competition in today’s rapidly changing digital world.