3 Executive Summary Public cloud, big data, and AI technologies offer competitive advantages and cost savings for capital markets firms ready to make the transition. This paper discusses the three phases capital markets firms go through in transitioning to public cloud, and the workloads, benefits, and cultural changes that characterize the three phases: Infrastructure Optimizers: The first step on the public cloud journey, where firms focus on migrating specific workloads to save costs. Cautious Strategists: Firms build on the success of their first public cloud migrations, and begin to change the way they develop technology to increase cost savings and start taking advantage of capabilities only available on public cloud. Transformative Innovators: Firms shift to a fully public cloud-enabled mentality, and fully leverage the flexibility and agility of the public cloud to build industry-changing solutions and attract top IT talent. Additionally, we reveal the five things that capital markets innovators who have advanced to the transformation phase do well in their adoption of cloud, big data, and AI technologies across the front, middle, and back office functions.