Recent years have seen an explosion in the demand for cloud-based solutions. This trend has been most pronounced in areas with an associated drive towards digitisation. Sectors such as commerce and media have become “digital” industries, with the corollary being a requirement for vast amounts of data & processing power.
Financial markets have witnessed the same trends. And the supply chain finance industry, with its necessity for huge volumes of data and connectivity, is also embracing this move to the cloud. These themes have cropped up at several industry conferences and roundtable discussions as banks, financial institutions and corporates all understand that the technology needed to execute complex supply chain finance programmes increasingly needs to be accessible, agile, and secure.
There is a growing demand for supply chain finance infrastructure that enables corporates and financial institutions to deploy more scalable, flexible solutions. Previously slow digital transformation strategies amongst the banking market’s leading players were moved into high gear because of the pandemic. People at every stage of the supply chain were suddenly based at home posing a huge challenge for financial institutions, due to security requirements regarding data handling and the lack of processes already in place to allow remote working.
Banks are, in general, now moving from hosting their systems on office-based servers to the cloud. HSBC have reported that 10% to 40% of their servers and operating systems are already on the cloud, and many banks are targeting up to 80% within the next few years. Since the first lockdown there has been a 72% rise in the use of fintech apps in Europe, accelerated by the pandemic but also driven by the desire to reduce operating costs and increase the efficiency of their processes by using more fintech partners.
The technology and partnership with Microsoft
Demica has been at the forefront of this transition to the cloud.
Through extensive development & collaboration with global partners, the Demica Platform has been developed to support the spectrum of working capital products from payables to receivables financing, all through a market-leading user interface.
Whereas originally, Demica’s system was hosted on servers either in Demica’s office or the Banks’s premises, in 2016 Demica started to migrate clients to a Microsoft Azure cloud-based service to upgrade the underlying infrastructure that supports the solution. As demand for our solutions grew, this enabled Demica to manage significantly higher processing volumes, deploy market-leading processing engines and enable our bank partners to benefit from continued platform development.
Through Kubernetes clusters and microservices, Demica has been able to offer clients a solution that enables them to execute transactions from small receivables financing programmes to multi-billion securitisation programmes through a single solution. As the demands on the Demica Platform have increased, the relationship with Microsoft has ensured continued scalability of its cloud-based system, for continuous delivery of new products and functionality.
Demica, as a Gold level partner in the Microsoft Partner Network, must adhere to a strict code of conduct and technical pre-requisites to maintain that status. To gain this level of partnership, Demica proved its ability to deliver high quality projects and, more importantly, continually support their customers with exceptional levels of customer satisfaction and standards of security. This cements the partnership between Demica and Microsoft and affirms our commitment to a long-term relationship.
What does this partnership mean?
Demica’s platform is now publicly listed and available in the Azure Marketplace, an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative, cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed ready-to-use technologies.
This is the next step in Demica and Microsoft’s exploration into what is possible on a truly state-of-the-art trade finance platform.
This is an exciting step in the partnership between Microsoft and Demica as it makes it easier than ever for businesses to access Demica’s platform and recognises the work our teams have put in to create a transformative solution in a reliable and secure cloud environment.
Matt Wreford, CEO of Demica
We’re pleased to welcome Demica to the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, which gives our partners great exposure to cloud customers around the globe. Azure Marketplace offers world-class quality experiences from global trusted partners with solutions tested to work seamlessly with Azure.
Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp
How does this benefit Demica’s customers?
Microsoft Azure and Demica have the ability for deep integration including the implementation of hybrid products in regions and territories where there is legislation controlling the movement of data; for example, where data is not permitted to leave a certain geographic area. This has historically been a major challenge for some trade finance providers as supply chains are increasingly globalised.
By moving to Microsoft Azure, Demica’s technological investment will be totally focused on improving the Demica Platform itself, rather than adjusting it for compatibility with other services, so new products and features will be easier to roll out and be more quickly available to end-users. Demica’s Platform will be able to prioritise scalability, resilience, and security on an ongoing basis, throughout its development.
At Demica, we reduce the complexity of working capital. Our cloud-based supply chain finance Platform provides more flexibility and delivers a world-class user experience for customers. The flexible architecture of Demica connects funders, buyers, and suppliers to streamline supply chain finance solutions on a secure, cloud-based system.
Interested in discussing how you can launch your trade finance solutions on a digital platform that can handle payables and receivables solutions in one place? Get in touch to speak to a member of our team about how you can implement a secure, user-friendly digital platform that can be customised for your customers’ needs today.