Cost-effective ownership of ICT infrastructure equipment and systems in the financial services sector: A case of old Mutual (2009 to 2013)

Abstract

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become an indispensable resource in enabling functionality and efficiency in the financial services sector where Old Mutual Zimbabwe is a major player. The company relies heavily on ICTs for service delivery. ICT infrastructure is needed everywhere, be it for frontline customer oriented operations in banking, property management, insurance or internal support services such as HR, Finance, Risk and Audit. As the use of ICT infrastructure at all stages of the service delivery process increases, the computing resources that Old Mutual needs also go up. The huge infrastructure associated with getting a computer on every workstation brings up problems like machine failure, hard drive crashes, software bugs, and more importantly effective utilisation of these resources. This is a big headache for Old Mutual which, like most leading enterprises, must strive to reduce its costs through models such as virtualization. In developed countries, this demand to reduce computing costs (and subsequently lower product selling price to customers), has led to the development and growth of Cloud Computing. Cloud computing is a paradigm shift in which computing is moved away from personal computers and even the individual enterprise application server and server farms (in data centres) to a ‘cloud’ of computers. Innovations like this are necessary to ride the inevitable tide of change. Cloud Computing is the sum of SaaS and Utility Computing which offers better computing through improved utilization and reduced administration/infrastructure costs. The concept of Cloud Computing is still at its infant stage and a very new technology for the enterprises and as such, most enterprises are not very confident to adopt it.

This research assesses the preparedness and efficacy of implementing this technology for Old Mutual in terms of cost and security. It discusses the benefits and drawbacks Old Mutual can have while adopting Cloud Computing. In the end, the research concludes that Cloud Computing is better for Old Mutual in terms of both cost and data security.