Don’t let system traffic bring your bank to a standstill
Digital banking is pushing the limits of traditional banking methods. Banks increasingly rely on distributed systems to handle complex tasks and manage massive amounts of data. While these systems offer great potential, their effectiveness depends on one key factor: scalability.
Why is scalability so important? As customer needs and data volume grow, systems that can’t scale up can quickly become overwhelmed. Imagine a highway with only a few lanes — during rush hour traffic, everything grinds to a halt. Scalability ensures these distributed systems can adapt and keep up, just like a multi-lane highway, without sacrificing performance or reliability.
According to this year’s Enterprise Cloud Index report from Nutanix, over 80% of organisations believe using a combination of their own data centres and cloud services is ideal for managing applications and data. This approach allows banks to take advantage of the cloud’s flexibility and scalability while still having control over sensitive data.
The same report also found that 95% of organisations moved applications between different environments over the past year, showing how easily they can shift applications to meet changing needs. This scalability is a major benefit of cloud computing, allowing businesses to adapt their resources up or down as needed.
Top five elements of scalable distributed systems
Scalability is the foundation of powerful distributed systems. Let’s explore these five key elements that make them so effective:
Elasticity and horizontal scaling: Scalable distributed systems are like building blocks. You can easily expand them by adding more nodes (or computers) to handle those surges in processing power or data storage needs. This lets your bank effortlessly adapt to anything, from high-volume trading periods to complex AI analysis and EOD processing, keeping things running smoothly even during peak times.
Fault tolerance and zero downtime: Life throws curveballs, and sometimes things can go wrong even with technology, but your bank must stay operational. Distributed systems should be built resistant to failures and designed to keep running even if individual parts fail. This minimises downtime and customer frustration, letting you and your customers focus on what matters most.
Data consistency: Scalability ensures all your data stays in sync across the distributed system, guaranteeing your financial records are accurate and transactions run smoothly. Why does this matter? Consistent data is the foundation of trust in banking.
Disaster recovery: The unexpected can happen. Natural disasters, cyberattacks, or data loss due to system outages can disrupt your operations. But with a scalable infrastructure, you can recover from such events quickly, helping you maintain operations and client trust.
Monitoring and observability: Comprehensive tools and processes help you keep a watchful eye on your distributed system, letting you monitor performance, identify bottlenecks, and troubleshoot issues before they escalate. This proactive approach ensures a healthy and scalable infrastructure for your growing financial needs.
A modern, scalable banking infrastructure keeps you competitive, adaptable, and future-ready. By prioritising scalability, you’re giving your bank the flexibility to adapt and keep your operations running smoothly, no matter what comes your way!
To discover how you can effortlessly scale your resources, feel free to reach out to our expert, Andreas Neidhart-Lau, Associate Partner, Head of Retail and SME Banking, APAC, at andreas.neidhartlau@synpulse.com.
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