support@stormitfinancial.com 
FinTech Trends Newsletter Week 10th July – 14th July 2017
Why Alternative Investment Companies are shifting to ‘IT as a service’ – and what you need to do about it
‘IT as a service’ (ITaaS) or paying for IT as a Utility is on the rise as Al- ternative Investment Firms realise the benefits of contracting an IT ser- vice provider or Managed Service Provider (MSP), like Storm IT Financial, for all their business technology needs. While ITaaS is not a new con- cept, it has become a go-to operational model for small, medium-to- large sized companies that need 24/7 monitoring, managing, and sus- taining of company technology.
Moving to ITaaS is a functional shift, from seeing IT & Technology invest- ment as Capital Expenditure (CapEx) to Operational Expenditure (OpEx), where IT is run as a business and therefore can be optimised according to business needs. Companies that run hybrid IT environments, such as private cloud, public cloud, and in-house applications, can contract ser- vices for all or just part of their technological system. Here are some leading benefits of IT as a service and why more companies are shifting to this model.
Full-time security – Hiring a full-time staff to monitor servers 24/7/365 is expensive, can eat up a lot of the IT budget and be narrative towards the Firm. Instead, by contracting an ITaaS provider or MSP, Firms can save valuable time, resource and lean on a wealth of knowledge and experiences from service level desks, as you would from Storm IT Financials support team. The Managed Service provider will be on-call for any disruptions of services, applications, or any cloud or hardware. The ITaaS provider will fix the issue, if they don’t know about beforehand and alert the Firm if necessary. Since IT security is a top concern for Financial Firms, having an ITaaS provider or MSP can take away an element of fear, as they are skilled in handling breaches such as cyber attacks or malware issues. And especially for Alternative Asset Manager Firms with strict compliance regulations, and ITaaS provider and MSP can ensure all requirements & regulations are met.
Efficient support for employees – Lots of Financial Firms have employees distributed around an office, city, country or around the world, which often means limited deskside support resources. An ITaaS provider or MSP, however, can deploy fast, remote access sup- port and a self-service support portal, which allows employees to open support tickets, search a robust FAQ, check the status of issues, request new devices, or find any information related to the IT aspect of their position. This type of support system is seamless for em- ployees who want fast answers and quick relief from IT issues. It can be integrated with help desk software applications, making inter- nal IT support easy.
Monitoring and management – All Financial Firms must monitor and update hardware for items such as antivirus software, operating system updates, etc. This process takes time and resources that could be used elsewhere. By shifting this responsibility to an ITaaS pro- vider or MSP, companies are relieved of managing each employee’s laptop, desktop, and mobile device. The ITaaS provider or MSP en- sures all devices are regularly updated with the latest operating systems, security software and applications. Furthermore, the ITaaS provider or MSP can remotely access each device for configurations, patching, and ongoing maintenance. If for some reason an on-site fix is necessary, the system can alert a designated technician to fix the problem. ITaaS providers or MSP also monitor and maintain vir- tual, cloud servers, remotely fixing any issues, to ensure regular and consistent performance.
Enhanced reporting – Many companies are bound to a service level agreement (SLA), which makes performance monitoring an im- portant part of IT services. The ITaaS provider or MSP can monitor performance and alert technicians to when action is necessary for any hardware or device. ITaaS providers and MSP’s can report against enhanced SLA metrics beyond standard original equipment manu- facturer warranty terms. For small-and-medium sized businesses, attaining these services through the original equipment manufacturer can be costly, which is why an independent service organisation is an affordable alternative to looking after your hardware, software, technology and help desk needs. Your MSP is your one stop environment in dealing with all these IT components and more.
For more information on Hedge Fund, Asset Management, Private Equity & Alternative Investment hosted or managed solutions, help desk support, cyber security and data management advice, cloud & IT Services, feel free to contact Storm IT Financial.
Storm IT Financial FinTech News & Trends picks: Week 10th July – 14th July 2017
Like JPM, Goldman Sachs bids to win over techies with new relaxed dress code
Goldman Sachs is relaxing its dress code for computer engineers:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-goldman-sachs-technology-idUSKBN19Y17J
Vela agrees Object Trading acquisition
Vela Trading Technologies to acquire Object Trading, a global provider of DMA, pre-trade risk controls, and analytics applications:
https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/70056/vela-agrees-object-trading-acquisition
What could blockchain mean for the financial services industry?
Blockchain has become a buzzword, a term that one has to pretend to understand and nod sagely whenever it comes up in conversation…:
Google opens doors on London data centre
Google has opened the doors on its London data centre, joining Brussels as its second European site with more to follow:
https://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2017/jul/14/google-opens- doors-london-data-centre/
Cisco extends security into cloud with Observable acquisition
Cisco has announced it will acquire software business Observable Networks bring Cisco’s StealthWatch into the cloud:
Microsoft’s Azure brings the cloud to your data centre
Stack includes all the elements of Microsoft’s cloud platform, but in a corporate environment
Microsoft 365 bundles cloud subscriptions into one offering
New enterprise and business packages will provide a unique opportunity for cloud partners:
Credit Suisse Releases Survey Of Hedge Fund Inves- tor Sentiment
CS polled more than 200 global institutional investors asking them about their Hedge Fund activities:
http://www.finalternatives.com/node/35487
Amazon Web Services drops controversial patent clause from standard user agreement
Amazon Web Services has quietly dropped a controver- sial provision from its user agreement…:
Have you got a Hardware decommissioning policy ?
When decommissioning hardware, standard and well-documented practices are critical:
Atmosera Announces Enhanced Managed Azure Ser- vices for Cloud Deployments
Atmosera, has announced the expansion of AtmoseraManaged Azure Services:
https://solutionsreview.com/cloud-platforms/press/
Investec prepares Brexit Luxembourg move for back office staff
Firm mulls plans to move governance & compliance to its Luxembourg base, its UK MD David Aird tells:
