22 Firms can learn a lot from looking outside the industry: Capital markets firms can learn a lot from what the technology sector started a decade ago in terms of software development methods and fostering and governing innovation. A growing number of financial institutions are applying AI to customer advice and 14 interactions, laying the groundwork for self-driving finance . Consider healthcare’s use of the cloud to integrate disparate computing platforms and aggregate fragmented data for the sake of improving provider, hospital, and patient collaboration. Or the insurance industry’s rapid expansion of cloud to improve business processes, such as claims handling, while core resources focus on new products, service enhancements, and business growth. Even old-line energy and utilities companies are turning to the cloud to enable global smart-grid-as-a-service capabilities through fully managed services. No matter where you are on the cloud adoption continuum—from Optimizer to Strategist to Innovator—there is much to gain from advancing your own cloud agenda. Take a few cues from what those ahead of you have already learned, find a willing partner who understands your business and has the resources to support your vision long-term, and leverage today’s evolving cloud environment to your business advantage. The Front Office Data Analytics Case: Kx • Overview: In-memory, time-series database technology provider Kx works with all of the main cloud providers. • The driver: The rising pressure to store high volumes of data over time creates a real desire to reduce TCO for storing decades’ worth of information. • The result: Once in the cloud, firms acquire an unlimited amount of technology power to develop new classes of applications for market data and compliance activities. “To help with the data migration, Google Cloud offers tools for data ingestion. It also owns significant infrastructure, which is important to investment banks that manage data in a lot of regions, especially in light of regulations, such as GDPR,”- Glenn Wright, Systems Architect, Kx