The financial sector is on the brink of major transformation driven by ongoing technological advancements, and at the recent Huawei HiFS Frontier Forum 2024 in Shenzhen, industry leaders discussed how cloud, network, storage and computing infrastructure can strengthen the resilience of the financial system.
The theme of the forum is “Building resilience and rebuilding smarter finance together” symbolizes the industry’s ambition to overcome the challenges of an uncertain future through technological excellence and collaborative innovation.
This meeting comes at a pivotal time: traditional banking boundaries are disappearing and the definition of financial services is evolving in unprecedented ways.
The Need for Digital Transformation
As we hurtle towards 2030, the financial industry is poised for major change. This evolution will bring user experience to the forefront and elevate it to a key performance metric for banks.
In this new paradigm, financial services will no longer be limited to traditional banking channels: instead, they will be driven by artificial intelligence, delivered through a myriad of digital touchpoints, and seamlessly integrated into every aspect of our daily lives.
The transition to ubiquitous AI-driven financial services will require a fundamental rethinking of how banks operate and how they deliver value to their customers.
As a result, the impact of service disruptions can be dramatically amplified, resulting in reputational damage and severe financial loss.
In an ecosystem where financial services are expected to be always-on and instantaneous, even temporary disruptions can have far-reaching effects, so now more than ever, banks need to prioritize resilience and continuity.
Identifying weaknesses in financial services
In recent years, business losses due to service interruptions have skyrocketed. A thorough statistical analysis has revealed that there are four key factors behind these failures: security and protection vulnerabilities, data center disruptions, system and connection failures, and operation and maintenance errors.
As financial services become increasingly digitalized, they become more vulnerable to advanced cyber threats and require advanced security measures.
Any disruption to data centre operations due to increasing reliance on cloud computing and centralised data processing could have a cascading impact on a bank’s entire service ecosystem.
The complex, interconnected systems that underpin modern banking are only as strong as their weakest link, meaning failure of any part of this network can lead to widespread service disruptions.
Additionally, human error remains a significant risk factor, and as systems become more complex, the potential for misconfiguration or operational mistakes increases.
Addressing these factors requires a holistic approach that encompasses technology, process and people to build a resilient financial infrastructure.
“The Four Zeros”: A Paradigm Shift in Financial Resilience
Huawei’s vision for the future of finance is: The “Four Zeros” Approach: Zero downtime, zero wait, zero touch, zero trust.
This comprehensive strategy: Huawei’s Mission Helping financial institutions rebuild resilience, agility, and intelligence.
Zero downtime ensures continuous service availability and eliminates the concept of “offline” in financial services. This requires a robust infrastructure, intelligent predictive maintenance, and seamless failover mechanisms.
Zero Wait is focused on minimizing delays and optimizing the user experience. In an age of instant gratification, banks need to ensure that every interaction, from checking a balance to complex transactions, happens in real time.
Zero Touch highlights the importance of automation in reducing human error and increasing operational efficiency. By automating routine tasks and decision-making processes, banks can free up human resources for more strategic, value-added activities.
Zero Trust recognizes the evolving security landscape where traditional perimeter-based security models are no longer sufficient. Zero Trust advocates for a trust-nothing, verify-everything approach to security, ensuring robust protection at every level of the financial ecosystem.
Jason Cao, CEO of Huawei Digital Finance BU, emphasized that in a rapidly evolving intelligent world, financial institutions need to rethink these core attributes to stay competitive in the digital economy.
The “4 Zeros” approach provides the framework for this re-envisioning and offers a roadmap for banks to evolve from traditional financial institutions to agile, resilient digital enterprises.
Eyebase: Lifecycle Management Basics
To achieve the “Four Zeros”, Huawei advocates a comprehensive lifecycle management strategy that covers planning, construction, operation, and continuous optimization.
The approach is based on the iBASE (Insight-Blueprint-Architecture-Step-Evaluation) methodology, a comprehensive framework that guides agencies throughout the infrastructure transformation process.
The Insight phase leverages advanced analytical tools to gain a thorough understanding of your organization’s current IT and network health state. A detailed look at existing systems can help identify pain points and areas for improvement.
The Blueprint stage develops a 5-10 year planning roadmap and provides a clear vision for the target architecture, including plans for active/active and hybrid cloud architectures, positioning the organization for future growth and innovation.
Architecture focuses on designing an optimal targeted infrastructure that aligns with an organization’s strategic objectives, including technical considerations, business alignment, and regulatory compliance.
The Steps phase implements solutions and procedures for seamless upgrades, migrations, and restructuring. This phase translates the plan into tangible improvements to your bank’s infrastructure.
Finally, the evaluation phase ensures continuous evaluation and improvement, which is essential to remain relevant and competitive in a rapidly evolving technology environment.
The power of strategic partnerships to enhance financial resilience
King Zi, CTO of Huawei’s Digital Finance Business Unit, emphasized the importance of partnering with a strong professional services team, as many banks lack the technological readiness required to navigate this complex transformation on their own.
Huawei’s global network of technical service centers and certified engineers provides the expertise needed for IT modernization, cloud and data center modernization, and smart branch modernization.
This partnership approach recognizes that the journey to digital transformation is not, and should not be, a bank’s journey alone. By leveraging the expertise of their technology partners, banks can accelerate their transformation, mitigate risk, and focus on their core business: serving their customers.
Cutting-edge technologies for resilient finance
To achieve “zero”, Huawei has introduced advanced technologies: its trusted AI storage solutions for active-active architectures protect against cyber threats while ensuring service continuity from applications to databases, achieving 99.999 percent reliability.
The solution ensures data availability and maintains data integrity and performance, which are critical in the always-on world of digital finance.
Xinghe Intelligent Network provides comprehensive network solutions that integrate branch networks, multi-cloud environments, security, and open automation data center links.
The solution addresses the need for a secure, reliable, and highly available network infrastructure that supports rapid service development and improved management efficiency.
These technologies form the backbone of a resilient financial infrastructure, enabling banks to deliver consistent, secure, and high-performance services to their customers, regardless of external challenges or internal complexities.
The cornerstone of operational excellence
Automated operations and maintenance are essential to address the persistent challenge of managing increasingly complex architectures. With new systems and technologies constantly being added to IT environments, the risk of building what Huawei calls “heavy architectures” becomes increasingly difficult to manage over time.
Huawei’s approach leverages automation and AI to simplify processes, provide critical insights, and reduce risks. Tools such as configuration simulation, network-wide visualization, and big data analytics of services and user behavior help identify potential issues and generate proactive alerts.
This proactive approach to operations and maintenance represents a paradigm shift from reactive problem solving to predictive risk management.
By automating routine tasks and leveraging AI for complex decision-making, banks can significantly reduce the risk of human error and improve overall operational efficiency.
Comprehensive risk mitigation for financial resilience
Huawei’s solution suite goes beyond simple equipment upgrades: the ManageOne cloud management platform, iDRP automated disaster recovery management platform, and network digital map are essential tools for reducing risks and enhancing O&M capabilities.
These solutions focus on comprehensive risk reduction and operational enhancements, enabling financial institutions to build truly resilient systems that can withstand future challenges. They provide a comprehensive view of the entire IT ecosystem, enabling banks to manage their infrastructure more effectively and address potential issues before they escalate into service-affecting problems.
Continuous optimization is not just a buzzword, it is a full-stack one-stop service. Huawei’s powerful team of over 10,000 service experts, over 3,000 digital transformation specialists, and over 760,000 certified engineers worldwide provides unparalleled support.
The company’s services span the full range from consulting and planning to optimization, enabling financial institutions to build and maintain truly resilient systems.
This ongoing support recognises that digital transformation is not a one-off project, but a process of continuous improvement and adaptation.
Designing the future of finance
The path to achieving zero downtime, zero wait, zero touch, and zero trust is undoubtedly complex, but with the right approach and partnerships, it is achievable. As we move forward toward an AI-driven financial future, institutions that embrace these principles will be best positioned to succeed.
Leveraging cutting-edge technology, comprehensive lifecycle management, and strong specialized support, banks can build a resilient infrastructure that can withstand today’s challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s opportunities. In this new era of finance, resilience is not just about survival, it’s about rethinking the very essence of financial services for the digital age.
Financial institutions that navigate this transformation successfully will be financial services technology companies, rather than just banks. These institutions will be characterized by their ability to innovate quickly, adapt to changing customer needs, and maintain unwavering reliability in the face of technological and market disruptions.
As we stand on the brink of this new financial era, the message is clear: the future belongs to those who can build robust and resilient systems.
In the age of cloud and AI, financial resilience is the new competitive advantage, and companies that master it will lead the industry into the next Golden Age.
Partners Huawei Building resilient infrastructure that can withstand today’s challenges and seize tomorrow’s opportunities.
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