This is how Microsoft Cloud brings banking to remote communities around the world

According to a recent blog post from Microsoft, over 2 billion people across the world don’t have access to ATMs, credit cards, or brick and mortar banking. But with the farthest reaches of technology, many small businesses are beginning their first steps into the worldwide economy. Temenos is a global banking software provider based in Geneva, Switzerland that is changing stride to bring banking to more remote locations across the world with help from the Microsoft Cloud.

Ben Robinson, chief marketing officer for Temenos, stated that “the problem is not one of demand – everybody would like access to banking services if they could have it. All the problems are on the supply side, of the price point being too high.” Banks oftentimes cannot provide services due to lack of investments in infrastructure and hardware.

Temenos has integrated their banking application with Microsoft Azure. Loan officers then travel to the most remote areas of the world to meet customers where they work and conduct secure transactions with nothing but smartphones and tablets installed with Temenos software. The financial information is then synchronized through the cloud on Azure with a seamless delivery.

Murray Gardiner, the business director of Temenos MicroBanking Suite believes that this collaboration between Cloud and Temenos will change the world.

“It’s really exciting to be able to see how we can integrate things like channels and core banking in the cloud, where you’ve got literally somebody out in the field with a tablet who is opening a loan, taking payments, doing banking in the middle of nowhere.”

The high cost of banks can be reduced severely by removing the expenses of computers and employees. Instead, energy is being redirected pushing the limits of the technology and serving the clients without all of the complexity. Gardiner praises the security of Temenos’ banking solution in the Microsoft Cloud. “Your data is housed in a bunker that’s got the highest possible standards of security and encrypted transit of data. It’s far more secure” he says, comparing it to the questionable quality of staff maintaining an exposed server in an open environment.

“We’re just on the cusp of including possibly 2 billion more people in formal financial arrangements. Finally, the world is recognizing that all those people who were hitherto excluded, because they were too costly to bank, can now be banked profitably.”

This is just one way that Microsoft Cloud has reached out to make the world a better place. Microsoft’s Azure Cloud has also been instrumental in fighting the global water shortage. With the Microsoft Cloud Services, Temenos has already reached to many corners of the world to help small to medium businesses in Mexico, Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of Latin America and is looking to offer solutions to uplift people and help them out of poverty.