Changing global dynamics, from geopolitical shifts to banking crises, have thrust Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) into a transformative era. The swift pace of these disruptions emphasizes an urgent need for enhanced agility in launching new products and services, improved customer experiences, and streamlined operational efficiency. At the heart of this change is data, which is driving FMI towards a distinct competitive edge.

However, navigating this evolving landscape is challenging. The current fragmented and immature nature of FMI’s tech and data landscape is a significant barrier. Astonishingly, many modern systems still lack the requisite setup for efficient data sharing, emphasizing the critical need for an integrated data platform to unleash and amplify data’s intrinsic value.

For FMI to truly unlock their data’s potential, a shift towards a simplified, integrated architecture that breaks down data silos and boost agility is priority. Central to this vision is a modern platform, cloud-centric and AI-driven. Our experience in financial services has shown that clients adopting such an integrated data approach drastically enhance their time-to-value. But how can FMI embark on this transformative journey and what awaits them on the other side?

Delving deeper: The challenge ahead for FMI
In striving for agility to extract value from data, FMI face core challenges.

1. Data immaturity: Absence of a consolidated data model restricts FMI’s ability to link existing data effectively. This hampers their speed-to-market, causing them to miss emerging market trends.

2. Operational inefficiencies: Latency issues, high cross-cloud costs, and infrastructure bottlenecks limit FMI’s responsiveness. These inefficiencies, combined with overlapping processes, further decelerate their capacity to adapt to market changes swiftly.

3. Security and regulatory constraints: An ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape, compounded by a complex regulatory environment, restricts FMI’s agility. The mounting pressures for sustainability and transparency impose a stringent framework within which they must operate.

4. Technological fragmentation: FMI’s architecture is fragmentated, siloed, and costly to maintain causing data duplication across layers and systems.

Confronted with these challenges, FMI’s path to agility highlights the importance of an integrated data platform as key enabler for value realization.

From challenges to competitive edge: Avanade’s integrated data platform approach
In the dynamic reality of FMI’s digital evolution, Avanade stands out as a leader of transformative solutions. With our proven experience in the financial services sector, we have consistently addressed the pressing need for innovative data platforms tailored for system integration and data sharing. Our experience is a testament to our expertise in building platforms that only enhance agility but also expedite time-to-market, a crucial competitive advantage for FMI. Our strategy leverages the Azure integration and service platform offerings. We lay down the foundation supporting organizations in implementing an enterprise integration platform as a service, optimizing data reuse and safeguarding data governance.

Drawing from our rich experiences, we have delivered solutions to refine UI and UX using AI, construct adaptable architectural models fuelled by cloud continuum, and harness generative AI for groundbreaking analytics that drive informed decisions. The results are tangible: enhanced decision making, elevated workplace experiences, operational efficiencies, and improved resiliency.

In line with our commitment to technological innovation, we have recently launched Avanade’s offering for Microsoft Fabric, now available on the Azure Marketplace. Our engagements, particularly those involving the activation of Microsoft Fabric, have highlighted its unique capability to consolidate diverse data platform services into a simplified and integrated solution across data engineering, data science and BI workloads. The outcome? A revolutionised approach that reduces data silos, fast-tracs market readiness, amplifies AI-driven decisions and solidifies data governance.

Seizing the integrated data platform opportunity
As the market landscape evolves, the Integrated Data Platform stands as pivotal solution for FMI enabling them to navigate market complexities, enhance agility, and achieve a distinctive competitive advantage. Avanade remains at the forefront of this evolution. We have consistently guided clients like FMI in their transformation journey, leveraging our advanced Microsoft expertise turning challenges into opportunities for sustainable growth and innovation.

Avanade can help you unlock your potential with the power of integrated data platforms
If you are exploring how to unlock value from your data with the power of integrated data platforms, Avanade data leaders are ready to support you though our data modernization capabilities. No other Microsoft partner can match our depth of Microsoft expertise, from data and AI to Azure and Microsoft Fabric.

If you would like to discuss this further, please reach out to me via email or leave your comment below.