Skipton pioneers some ahead-of-its time technology
Skipton Building Society has signed a three-year contract with ANS Group, the managed and hybrid cloud service provider, making it one of the first financial services brands to be ‘hybrid-ready’. This new concept in IT means Skipton is able to benefit from a combination of the security and stability of its own on-site technology, from Cisco and VMware, with the almost unlimited scalability and flexibility of cloud computing – allowing it to take new services to market quicker than ever before and respond more efficiently to customer needs and business demands.
The service will also deliver cost savings to the business as it reduces time-consuming manual processes through workflow and process automation, and reduces waste by using virtual servers.
The hybrid-ready platform will allow the Yorkshire-based building society to automate the delivery of IT services, providing a more robust and agile service utilising its existing computer hardware. Furthermore, ANS will provide 24/7 proactive support and monitoring to assist Skipton’s internal IT team serving their 785,000 members and 100 branches nationwide.
Duncan Ratcliffe, head of IT at Skipton, said: “In such a fast paced industry flexibility and adaptability are absolutely critical in enabling us to keep innovating, and the hybrid platform strikes the right balance. This investment will allow us to react to market needs and demands, and deliver the new services that our customers want more quickly than ever before.
“The concept of hybridization mirrors the evolving demand in the financial services sector, where in order to remain competitive institutions need to be able to offer fast, scalable, automated processes on one hand, and security and reliability on the other.
“The cost-savings and increased efficiency will be significant, but most importantly, we can pass on tangible improvements through to our customers by way of improved applications and faster service delivery.”
Andy Barrow, CTO at ANS, said: “In any market as competitive as financial services, innovation is key and this investment will enable Skipton to be in the strongest possible position to respond to fast-moving and evolving customer demands.
“We knew from the first instance that Skipton’s focus was on changing and improving business processes, so we designed an IT solution around those requirements, rather than presenting an ‘off the shelf’ package.
“Hybridization is ideal for businesses that need a bespoke solution to balance security and reliability with scalability and innovation.”