A research, commissioned by Microsoft show that Malaysian banks are slow to adopt cloud technologies if compared against regional peers.

This is worrying market observers because this puts Malaysians in a losing position to gain efficiency in the financial markets in the short, and long run.

The study is done by Forrester and is entitled: Ensuring Agility And Trust In A Rapidly Changing Business Environment. It evaluates cloud (computing) adoption trends amongst financial services institutions (FSIs) across the Asia Pacific region. It also looks at the impact of regulatory compliance, security and privacy, and reliability concerns on current and future cloud initiatives.

Microsoft Corporate Attorney, Jarom Britton says “organizations that do not evolve fast enough will be less competitive as the face disruptions in their respective industry”.

But FSIs in particular, and any company in general, must be wary when it comes to adopting new technologies and digital architecture. Any move that do not protect the interest of the firm may pose a greater problem if companies migrate without properly understanding the risks involved.

In an exclusive interview with Astro AWANI, security expert, Sophos says that Malaysia still needs to think on how to improve cyber security, particularly when cloud adoption is at an increased rate.

Sophos’ Principal Research Scientist, Chester Wisniewski says “in a digital world, if you are slow to adopt change, you will lose out in the long run. But if you adopt change and migrate your business to the cloud for instance, without understanding the risks involved, you are putting yourself and your organization in an even greater vulnerability”.

The research done by Forrester for Microsoft also highlights various findings, including regulatory knowledge comprehension on various markets, strategies for engaging financial regulators, and the role of cloud service providers.

Watch the full interview with Sophos on Market Talk this Saturday, at Channel 501 Astro AWANI at 11.30pm.